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Salem, Mass. 


JONES & STIFF, Photo. 


Men ORT A Io 


OF THE 


HON. ASAHEL HUNTINGTON, 


FROM HIS FAMILY. 





SALEM : 
PRINTED AT THE SALEM PRESS. 
Lo7/1% 


—_ 


aa 2 








Memorial Sermon 


BY THE 


fave CHARLES RAY PALMER. 














MEMORIAL SERMON. 


‘* The memory of the just ts blessed.’? —PROVERBS X: 7. 


Ir we fully accept the Christian doctrine of the immortality of 
the soul, it modifies our emotions in view of the death of a 
Christian friend, in two directions. It modifies the emotions which 
we have in view of his decease in itself considered, as an event 
affecting him. That event appears no longer the end of life, but 
a transition from one type of life to another. We no longer im- 
agine him in any sense to have ceased to be,—consciousness, 
thought, feeling, activity, we imagine in him still, only he has 
passed from among us, passed beyond our immediate cognizance, 
as if he had sailed away upon the trackless sea, to a shore 
whence no tidings could return. He has retained all that we 
have admired and loved in him, of intellectual power, and of 
moral affection. Even his familiar form rests in hope, for ‘‘if we 
believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who 
sleep in Jesus, will God bring with Him.” How greatly this 
mitigates the pain of parting with our dead, we, who always have 
had the comfort of sorrowing not without hope, can never know. 

But our sure faith in immortality works in us in another way. 
It modifies the emotions which we have in view of what is ended 
—the earthly career of which the bound is reached. We esti- 


mate differently the experience and the performance which with 


7O Memorial of Lon. Asahel Lluntington. 





that career have ceased. Without the clear apprehension of im- 
mortality we might have one kind of feeling about an ended life 
on earth; with it we have quite another. In the one case we 
might mourn the incompleteness of a life, an untimeliness in its 
end, an imperfection in its work, a singular embitterment of its 
course, its losses and its sorrows; in the other we see precisely - 
the same things in a very different light. Whatever incidents, 
whatever vicissitudes, whatever limitations we recognize in the ret- 
rospect of a life, we regard as chiefly significant not in any re- 
lations to the past, but the present; not in respect of what the 
departed was and is not, but of what he is and cannot cease to 
be, a divinely designed, moulded, disciplined, proved, and now 
approbated character, on its unending way to beatification and 
glory eternal. We know in any such case, because in every case, 
that according to the methods of Him who leads His children by 
paths which they have not known, 


‘‘The way he went, and only that, 
Was the best way for him.” 


Hence to Christian thinking the finished experience of a departed 
soul is strangely dignified. Its history records the process wherein 
was accomplished a divine plan, wise in its scope and perfect in 
its details, and whereby a human soul free, yet never uninflu- 
enced, self-determined, yet ever under government, was enabled to 
struggle out of earthliness into heavenliness, and become trans- 
formed from a servant of sin, into a child of God. Thus Chris- 
tianity hallows the memory of a saint upon the earth. Christian 
affection embalms unto a long rememberance all that he was, that 
he did, that he suffered, not alone for the intrinsic interest dis- 


cerned in it, not either to lament what it might have been and 





Memorial Sermon. re 


never was, but because so lived and learned and matured he who 
is glorified, because so went he to the stars. 

And a life well lived is worthy of this sort of remembrance, 
worthy of a reverential commemoration. It is a memorable thing, 
on its divine side, and on its human side, fruitful of instruction, 
of encouragement, of impulse, unto all in whose sight it has been 
wrought. Men with reason praise it, for they can hardly fail 
themselves to become more praiseworthy through it. Of a truth 
then, as the Royal Preacher wrote long ago, ‘‘the memory of the 
just is blessed.” 

Among the tributes to the memory of the celebrated Dr. Chal- 
mers, called forth by his death, was one by the gifted and genial 
Dr. Brown of Edinburgh, which began in this way :—‘* When 
towards the close of some long summer day, we come suddenly, 
and as we think before his time, upon the broad sun, sinking 
down in his tranquillity into the unclouded west, we cannot keep 
our eyes from the great spectacle; and when he is gone the 
shadow of him haunts our sight; we see everywhere—upon the 
spotless heaven, upon the distant mountains, upon the fields, and 
upon the road at our feet—that dim, strange, changeful image ; 
and if our eyes shut to recover themselves we still find in them, 
like a dying flame, or a gleam in a dark place, the unmistakable 
phantom of the mighty orb that has set. * * So it is when a 
creat and good and beloved man departs, sets—it may be sud- 
denly and to us who know not the times and seasons—too soon. 
We gaze eagerly at his last hours, and when he is gone, never 
to rise again on our sight, we see his image wherever we go, 
and in whatsoever we are engaged; the idea of his life is forever 
coming into all our thoughts.” 


My Christian friends, these words have .arisen in my memory 


12 Memorial of Lon. Asahel Huntington. 


and lingered fondly there, and I have felt constrained to repeat 
them to you, because they vividly describe the effects produced 
upon my own mind and heart by the departure from among us of 
our common friend, our honored fellow-citizen, and fellow-worship- 
per for many years, Mr. Asanet Hunrinaton. Since the bitter 
moment in which the sad tidings reached me I have seemed to 
myself hardly capable of another thought than that HE is gone; 
HE, my beloved father and friend, has left us; uim I can see no 
more on earth. Even as I have entered this place nothing has 
seemed so conspicuous in my audience, as His absence; that one 
dear face is here no more. I believe you do not wonder,—you 
will not harshly judge me,— you many of you sympathize with me, 
if, for the time, I indulge the feeling that the world is darker 
since the light of his countenance is withdrawn. Sacred and 
precious is the faith that he still lives, although not here. Sacred 
and precious the hope that far beyond these changeful scenes 
such a friend may be found again, to know and to love forever 
more. 

With the views already expressed of the interest of all Chris- 
tian living in this world, when the record of it is closed, and 
under the influence of the still fresh sense of loss, which I incline 
to think we all more or less share, I have felt that it would be 
agreeable and profitable to me, and it could not be other than 
agreeable and profitable to any of us, to let this hour be devoted 
to the memory of the just man we mourn. It has seemed to me 
that the best use which I could make of the opportunity of this 
hour would be briefly to commemorate, as I could, his life and 
character. And this is what I propose to do. Recalling the 
familiar outline of his career, and the kind of public services to 
which he has been called, I shall be led thereby to express some 





Memorial Sermon. 13 





appreciation of the abilities, the virtues, and the graces therein 
displayed. 

Mr. Huntington was a descendant, in the sixth generation, from 
a Puritan immigrant from England, who died on his passage to 
this country, in 1633, leaving a widow and five children. Three 
of these children acquired homes in Connecticut, and with them 
originated a very widely extended family. Christopher the fourth 
child of the immigrant, was one of the patentees of the town of 
- Norwich, and has a large posterity in that locality. A grandson 
of his, also Christopher, settled in what is now the village of 
Franklin, adjoining Norwich, and upon the homestead which he 
purchased, his descendants live to-day. The father of our friend, 
also named Asahel, was born in this Franklin home, March 17, 
1761. He was graduated at Dartmouth College, in 1786, and 
three years later was ordained Pastor of the church in Topsfield, 
where he labored until his death in April, 1813, at the age of 
fifty-two years. In an address delivered | by Hon. Nehemiah 
Cleveland, at the Topsfield Bi-centennial celebration, testimony is 
given to the most useful and acceptable ministry, the good sense, 
the unfailing discretion, the benevolence, and the blameless life of 
this excellent man, and to the affectionate veneration on the part 
. of parishioners and pupils, which he commanded. His wife, the: 
mother of our friend, was born Alethea Lord, the daughter of 
Dr. Elisha Lord of Abington, Conn., a physician of some note, 
and the son of an eminent Divine. She is described as a lady 
of remarkable dignity and gentleness, and a very prepossessing 
appearance; as of exceeding kindliness and disinterested devotion 
to others; and of beautiful piety. She survived her husband, 
and lived to be most fondly cherished by her sons, to the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-four years. She died Aug. 31, 1850. The 


14 Memorial of Hon. Asahel LHuntington. 


children of these parents were six, of whom our friend was the 
fourth—the second son. His older brother was the late Lieut. 
Gov. Elisha Huntington, M. D., who died some four years since, 
widely known and honored, and greatly lamented. The third son, 
Hezekiah, became a resident of Vermont, and died in 1828. The 
other children were daughters, and died in infancy or youth. 
Asahel was born July 23, 1798. His early years were spent at 
home, until he went to the Academy at Bradford, and afterwards 
to fit for College, to Phillips Academy, Andover. Here his in- 
structor was.the venerable John Adams, LL. D., for whom he re- 
tained a profound respect. It was during these school days, and 
in his fifteenth year, that the sudden death of his revered father 
caused his first and long remembered sorrow. In the fall of 
1815 he entered Yale College, and pursued his course in that 
institution with great credit. President Woolsey, who was one 
class behind him, testifies to me that the younger classes con- 
sidered our friend as decidedly the leading man of his class, 
although in the ranking at graduation he stood second. Presi- 
dent Woolsey testifies further of his own personal interest in him 
at that time, and his warm regard for him ever since. He was 
the recognized leader of the class in the arena presented by the 
Literary Society of his choice, and received its highest honors, 
being chosen President at the beginning of his Senior year. 

Soon atter leaving College, in the fall of 1819, he commenced 
the study of law in the office of John Scott, Esq., at Newburyport. 
He resided in the family of Hon. Asa D. Wildes, and supplied 
the latter’s place for a year, as Teacher in the High School. 
It is remembered of him that he attracted attention at that time, 
as a man of unusual promise, and in connection with a local 


Debating Society, as a ready and fluent speaker. The interrup- 





Memorial Sermon. 15 


tion of his legal studies by teaching, of course protracted the 
period of them. It was not until after four and a half years 
that he was ready to present himself for examination. In the 
mean time, early in 1823, he removed to Salem, and became a 
student in the office of Judge Cummins, and a fellow-student 
with Mr. Rufus Choate. His admission to the Bar took place 
in the following year, in March, 1824, and at once he began to 
practice in the courts. It was at a period when a number of 
gifted and afterwards noted men were his competitors, such as 
Mr. Choate, Mr. Rantoul, Mr. Cushing, and others, but he was 
not long in acquiring considerable success and reputation. In 
1830 he was appointed County Attorney. He first appeared as 
such in the September term of that year. Two years later, for 
this office was substituted that of District Attorney, the district 
embracing Essex and Middlesex counties. To this new office Mr. 
Huntington was appointed, and held it until 1845, when he re- 
signed. In 1847, Middlesex county was detached from the dis- 
trict, and then he was re-appointed. In April, 1851, he was 
appointed, by the Supreme Judicial Court, Clerk of the Courts in 
Essex county, and with his acceptance of this appointment, his 
practice of law closed. When this office was made an elective 
one he was chosen to it by the people, and having been twice 
reélected, held it until his death. 

Mr. Huntington was repeatedly called by his fellow citizens to 
serve them in public office. As early as 1827, he was elected 
to the Legislature of the Commonwealth, and would have been 
returned in the year following but for his opposition during his 
term of office, to the incorporation of the Salem Theatre. It has 
been publicly stated that he was again and again called to this 
kind of public service, but I can find no evidence of it, and 


76 Memorial of Lon. Asahel Huntington. 





incline to think his professional engagements alone would render 
the statement unlikely to be true. 

In 1853 he took a prominent part in the Constitutional Con- 
vention. In that year, also, he was Mayor of the City. From 
1827 to 1829 he was a member of the School Committee, and 
its Clerk. From 1830 to 1832 he was again a member; still 
again from 1840 to 1842; also in 1846 and 1847, and in 1857 
and 1858—making thirteen years of service in all. And he 
never ceased to be deeply interested in Public Education. 

He was also interested in institutions of learning, especially 
in those in which he had been a student. He was a liberal bene- 
factor to Phillips Academy, when a call was made upon its 
Alumni, to replace the edifice accidentally consumed by fire, in 
1865. He was also interested in a class benefaction to Yale Col- 
lege, which originated in a class meeting, of which he was Chair- 
man, in 1859. For twenty-four years previous to his death he 
was a Trustee of Dummer Academy, and one whose varied and 
indefatigable services were esteemed invaluable by his associates. 
He was exceedingly well qualified for trusts of this kind, and I 
have reason to believe he would have been called to other and 
higher positions, but that his non-membership of any Christian 
church, presented a technical objection. 

It was only natural, from his sympathies with the cause of 
learning, that he was a friend and supporter of the Essex Insti- 
tute in this city, and from May, 1861, to May, 1865, he was 
honored with its Presidency. He was heartily interested in the 
welfare of this city, and ever ready to cooperate in what seemed 
to promise to enhance its prosperity. That he was for years a 
Director, and finally President of our largest Manufacturing Com- 
pany, and a Director in the Holyoke Insurance Company, show 





Memorial Sermon. rid 


how his counsels in business affairs were estimated. Of our local 
charities he was an interested patron, and of the Dispensary 
Association he was the President. He has long been well known 
in connection with the cause of moral reform. He was an early 
advocate of the Temperance Reform, and an earnest advocate of 
legislation in aid of it. He contributed largely to the progress 
of the cause, by speeches, lectures, and articles in the papers. 
He was a stanch friend, and for many years an officer of the 
Massachusetts Temperance Alliance. He was an Honorary Mem- 
ber of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 
sions, and an annual contributor to its funds. Other enterprises 
of Christian benevolence also found in him a constant supporter. 

This is a meagre outline of his public career. It cannot ade- 
quately indicate the measure of his public usefulness. 

In passing from the record of what Mr. Huntington did in his 
life, to a consideration of what he was, we enter upon an under- 
taking which, however pleasant it may be deemed, will be found 
exceedingly difficult satisfactorily to accomplish. To analyze the 
character by which he so commanded our admiration and esteem, 
I confess would seem to me a hopeless task. In the case of 
some other characters it would seem easy to say, the decisive, 
formative element or principle, was this, or that. But any state- 
ment of this kind with respect to our friend’s character, it strikes 
me, would certainly go wide of the truth. There was an indi- 
viduality about it,—a rotundity, a symmetry, a compactness, a 
homogeneity about the substance of it, which rendered it impossi- 
ble for one to tell how it was made up; you can only describe 
how it appeared, as from time to time you saw it. 

In endeavoring to characterize him, by any general remark, I 
am reminded of what Carlyle once said of Sir Walter Scott. It 


78 Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 





is in substance this, that Scott, if no great man, was something 
much pleasanter to be, a robust, thoroughly healthy, and withal 
very prosperous man; an eminently well conditioned man, healthy 
in body, healthy in soul—we will say one of the healthiest of 
men. I think that remark might be made of our friend with 
peculiar truth. There was certainly as little that was morbid 
about him as about any man that I ever knew. His vigorous 
and healthful look seemed the exact counterpart of the stalwart, 
well-poised, cheerful, pure inner man. His very size seemed ap- 
propriately to indicate the largeness of his nature, the fulness of 
his heart. 

Very common infirmities of character were noticeably absent 
in him. One could see that he had maintained his own self- 
respect entirely, yet no man ever talked less of himself. I 
am surprised when I remember how little, in an intimacy of ten 
years, I have learned from him about his own history. It was 
apparent that he was very accessible, all kinds of men found 
him so; yet no man was ever freer from the pretence of good 
will, from the complaisance that masks inward dislike with out- 
ward demonstrations of cordiality. He had an abiding sense of 
the degree of consideration due to himself, and was quick to dis- 
cern if it was refused or neglected; yet no man ever troubled his 
friends less, by an exactin® spirit, or harbored less pique, or 
jealousy, or resentment. To quarrel with him was well nigh im- 
possible. In the transaction of business he expected prompt pay- 
ment of demands and full—he might seem even to look sharply 
for this; yet he was still more ready to meet all demands upon 
him exactly, and was generous in giving to an extreme. He 
habitually expressed his opinions decidedly, and tenaciously ; yet 
of all men he was one of the most tolerant of contradiction, and 





Memorial Sermon. 19 


retained the fullest cordiality toward the most decided opponent. 
His sympathies and antipathies were very positive; yet of narrow- 
ness and bigotry he was incapable. Was there not in all these 
particulars an equitableness of self-carriage, a just balance of self 
against all’else, and in all relations, as admirable as rare, and as 
truly indicating mental and moral health, as his erectness and 
strength revealed the absence of physical defect? | 

It was in consonance with this characteristic of our friend that 
he was certainly a man of remarkable integrity. I believe him to 
have been, in the judgment of all who knew him, one of the most 
honest, straightforward, and thoroughly trustworthy men who have 
ever lived; indeed entirely beyond suspicion in this direction. I 
doubt if there be a man in the county who would be sooner, or 
further trusted. It might easily have happened any day, as it did 
happen again and again, that two persons hostile to each other, 
and having delicate relations with each other, and opposing inter- 
ests, severally confide in him to the fullest extent. It was felt to 
be certain that neither would have reason to complain, and 
neither feared giving the other the slightest advantage. There 
was so general an assurance that he was just and true to the 
last degree, that the confidence of men in him was well nigh 
absolutely complete. And it was with reason. The path which 
rectitude and honor plainly prescribed to him he never would 
hesitate to take, and what that path was, in any case, he showed 
an unusual. acuteness and quickness in discerning. 

Some qualities which he exhibited shone with a greater lustre, 
that they were distinctly traceable to this integrity of purpose. 
He was constitutionally a timid man. It is the more to his credit 
that he proved himself capable of great moral courage, and of 
fearlessness in professional and public duty. “He was constitu- 


20 Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


tionally indisposed to contention, shrinking from any antagonism 
which would expose him to censure. It is the more to his credit 
that he proved himself capable, in obviously grave emergencies, 
of braving censure and even obloquy, and even fiercely contend- 
ing for what he deemed right. He was constitutionally a man of 
more than usual inertia. It is the more to his credit that he 
proved himself capable when roused, of prodigious energy, great 
executive ability, and persevering activity. His sense of duty, 
when directly appealed to, could be fully relied upon. It would 
know no questions beyond “what is to be done?” I have heard 
it questioned whether these constitutional traits of which I have 
spoken did not hold him back from the greatest eminence in life 
within his reach. It must certainly be admitted that they did not 
prevent his being recognized living, and dead, as one of the best 
of good men. 

His professional career will be more correctly appreciated and 
commemorated elsewhere. Yet a few words may be ventured 
here, I trust, as necessary to the completeness of what is pur- 
posed in this discourse. 

In estimating him as a lawyer, it must be borne in mind to 
what department of practice he was led to confine himself. 
Hardly had he been half a dozen years at the Bar before he was 
made a prosecuting officer, and he was this for nearly twenty 
years, and the bulk of his strength was bestowed in this direc- 
tion. Of course different. kinds of practice require and develope 
different types of power, and result in different kinds of attain- 
ments. Remembering his career, it is not singular that he was 
not a learned counsellor, any more than that he was not a dis- 
tinguished conveyancer. He belonged to another class of law- 
yers from the habits of his life. He was not eminent as an 





Memorial Sermon. pew h 


acute reasoner, for the use of incisive or constructive logic, for 
this would not naturally be acquired in his practice. But as a 
prosecuting officer he was deservedly distinguished; in that, his 
special vocation, he was great. It was said of Mr. Burke that 
‘Cag an accuser he was terrific;” that ‘‘he assaulted his victim 
with a sledge-hammer, and repeated his blows so often that few 
could recognize the carcase which he had taken in hand to man- 


”? 


ele.” I have heard men speak very similarly of Mr. Huntington. 
I have heard them use that very word terrific. His onslaughts 
were tremendous and destructive.: He used all the weapons of 
attack with a singular energy. Especially if there was a weak 
point in the defence, susceptible of ridicule, or sarcasm, he would 
avail himself of the advantage infallibly, and with prodigious 
power. His own case he managed with great dexterity. For the 
cumulative arrangement of circumstantial evidence he was con- 
sidered almost unrivalled. And in addressing a jury he had a 
wonderful skill in awakening that subtle, sympathetic response of 
their minds to his own, which is oftentimes the occasion of per- 
suasion, more certainly than mere weight of argument. In short 
the office of public prosecutor probably has seldom been better 
filled. .And perhaps it is fair to say that the Attorney who met, 
not without success and reputation, Mr. Choate, and even Mr. 
Webster, did enough for his fame. 

It deserves to be noticed that the motive of the intensity, the 
almost fierceness, of the energy of Mr. Huntington as an accuser, 
is unquestionable. It was a love ‘of justice, a real vindicative 
zeal. Other prosecutors might be cautious about bringing an ac- 
tion without a tolerable certainty of success. He, if he thought 
a man guilty, would push the case to the utmost, if he knew he 
should probably fail to convict. And to convict every criminal 


we Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


he spared no effort. Even in later years, when his duties in 
court were very different, I have been struck with the strength 
of his feeling of abhorrence toward crime, and his satisfaction in 
its punishment. In his bearing toward his professional brethren, 
his fairness, his courtesy, and his imperturbable good humor, have 
ample testimony, and certain it is that no man was freer from 
professional jealousy, or with more heartiness accorded to every 
associate the meed of praise which was his due. 

Little need be added to what has already been said to show 
that Mr. Huntington was a good citizen. His integrity, his 
genial manners, his fresh, bright way of entering into conversa- 
tion upon whatever was uppermost in current thought, made him 
a popular member of society, and his worth to society was very 
generally appreciated. He touched society at many points, and 
his influence was very wide. In questions of public policy he 
was an interested and decided participant without being an ex- 
tremist. He had not the instincts of a politician, and certainly 
never learned the arts of one, yet he performed a great deal 
of public service. His patriotism was a passion no less than a 
principle, and during the civil war he was ardent in his sympa- 
thies with the administration which seemed to him to represent 
the cause of his country, and personally depressed or jubilant 
as disaster or triumph befell the national arms. I can well re- 
member the sadness of his face in some of the darkest hours 
of that protracted struggle, as well as the tenacity with which, 
through them all, he adhered to the conviction that but one 
course was to be thought of by this people, until the last 
dollar was spent, and the last right arm broken in defence of 
the Union. His public spirit was of the most genuine type, 
and most of his contributions of time and strength to the wel- 





Memorial Sermon. 23 


fare of this his adopted city, its schools, its financial interests, its 
charities, or its religious institutions, have been made when he 
was heavily burdened by professional engagements. His sympathy 
with the poor, the humble, the struggling, and the needy, was very 
sincere, and his generosity unfailing. He loaned to poor men 
sums which were by no means inconsiderable, upon which he could 
collect little or no interest, and which will not now be recovered 
without difficulty. He assumed responsibility, oftentimes, by 
bonds, for those who had no claim upon him, and could make 
him no return. And he gave freely, and widely, and liberally — 
it seemed to me sometimes beyond the measure of his means. In 
this kind of good works he was wholesouled, and unwearied. 

In his interest in the Temperance Reform he was equally unti- 
ring, yet, of those who advocate extreme measures, he was one of 
the most moderate and wise. His life-long interest in the cause 
did not blind him to the tendency which has been developed within 
a few years past, to magnify particular measures unduly. The in- 
tolerant attack upon the President of the Massachusetts Temper- 
ance Alliance, by his own associates in office, was a matter of 
indignation to him, and the growing prominence of the party who 
instigated that attack, in the Alliance, alienated him from it not 
a little in the last two years of his life. To the policy of rear- 
ing a political party upon the one plank of prohibition vs. license, 
he was unalterably opposed. He could not subordinate all the 
interests dear to a patriot and a citizen, to one measure of a 
single reform, however wise he deemed the measure in itself con- 
sidered. In this respect, as in others, the balance of our friend’s 
mind may be discerned. He was far too wise to be either a rash 
leader, or a blind follower of party or public opinion. Yet it 
must be admitted, on the other side, that he was not a man to 


ah Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


stem party or public opinion, when he deemed its drift unfor- 
tunate or unwise. At such times he would rather recede from 
action and from notice, until a happier day should dawn. He 
would codperate with a party when he could heartily, when he 
could not he would quietly let it alone. 

Mr. Huntington would be remembered long and lovingly, by 
those who knew him, if there were no other reason, for his rare 
and priceless qualities as a friend. I confess I know not how 
to do justice to his memory in this respect. I have spoken of 
his general trustworthiness. His friends understood this, and 
learned to rest in him to the fullest degree, and with undoubt- 
ing confidence. His friendship was as a tower of strength and 
a city of refuge. One could draw upon his sympathy, his counsel, 
his help, with unhesitating assurance. He was a most loyal 
friend, and a singularly patient and tolerant one. It seemed to 
me that no infirmity, no rashness, no error, no fault, in one he 
loved, disturbed for a moment the flow of his goodwill. He had 
a high, and at the same time, a discriminating appreciation of 
the general intentions and principles of men, and whom he es- 
teemed at all he esteemed with a generous construction of their 
conduct that made his interest in them very uniform, and capable 
of standing very strong tests. And his friendships were unusually 
warm —few who saw him only in the ordinary walks of life could 
know the wealth of love of which he was capable, and which he 
lavishly bestowed. But those whose happiness it was to have en- 
joyed his confidence and affection, will agree in testifying that 
there could be no deeper, warmer, truer, or more faithful heart. 
One has few such friends in a lifetime. Many will say they have 
had but one, and for another they cannot hope. They will recall 
the words of David, when he mourned for Jonathan, ‘“‘I am dis- 





Memorial Sermon. 20 


tressed for thee, my brother, very pleasant hast thou been to me; 
thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.” 

It remains for me to speak of Mr. Huntington as a religious 
man. He became a regular attendant with this congregation soon 
after his coming to Salem. In 1826, when a council was called 
to consider the expediency of the removal of Rev. Dr. Cornelius 
to another sphere of usefulness, Mr. Huntington was made a cor- 
porator in the Tabernacle Society, that he might represent the 
people before the council, and from that date he was fully identi- 
fied with all the interests of this congregation, and at all times 
a hearty, reliable, judicious, and liberal supporter of the Church 
and the Ministry. His contributions to the finances of the 
society have been exceeded by none, and without his presence a 
society meeting was hardly deemed complete. 

His religious convictions were very decided. As has _ been 
already intimated his ancestors, for several generations, had been 
men distinguished for godliness, and strongly attached to the 
Puritan faith and order. Of the six of whom we have record, 
all were church members, two were deacons, and one a minister. 
It is not singular that as if by inheritance, our friend was a 
thorough New England churchman, warmly cherishing the faith 
of his fathers. He illustrated the truth that a very catholic 
spirit is not inconsistent with positive opinions intelligently held. 
The fundamental thing with him was his conviction of the Divine - 
authority of the Scriptures, as a rule of faith. It was not for 
him to adjust his creed to his inclinations, his notions, or his 
fancies, his creed was fixed for him by the word of God. ‘One 
must accept that,’ he would say with heartiness, of a point of 
Christian doctrine, ‘‘one must accept that, or give up the Bible.” 
And. with respect to any such point there was no question which 
he should do. The doctrine was accepted with his whole soul. 


26 Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


He loved the truth. He was a most exemplary worshipper and 
hearer, almost never out of his place, either part of the day, 
and sometimes almost fasting at noon that he might be in a 
better condition to come to the house of God. 

Of his attitude with respect to the claims of religion upon him 
personally, he chose to say very little. In fact, upon this subject 
as upon many others affecting him nearly, however accessible 
he was, however ready to converse, beyond a eertain point he 
was exceedingly reticent. As has been intimated, he never made 
profession of his faith, or communicated with the church. For 
this fact I am very sorry, on his own account, and on many 
accounts. It was a limitation of his usefulness, and of his asso- 
ciation with the Christian people of his time. But I believe 
myself to understand, I think anyone knowing his temperament 
would understand just why he did not take this step which 
seemed so desirable for him, and that he did not, never made 
any material difference in my opinion, as to his real acceptance 
of the Gospel. As he made no professions on his own behalf 
it does not become me or any man to make any for him. The 
reticence which he preferred I shall not violate. The confidences 
which I received as his Pastor I regard sacred still. But it 
may be pardoned to me if I say, in the fulness of my love to 
him, that my heart rests to-day, as it has for years, in a good 
hope of him. I have known him intimately. I have seen him 
in many circumstances. I have been with him by the death- 
beds of the honored and the lowly. I have bowed with him 
in the great sorrows of his life, and of his goodness, of his 
piety, that a work of Divine Grace had penetrated his heart 
and life, I cannot entertain a doubt. Whether in the Heavenly 
Temple to which we are taught to look forward, among the 
glorious company of those “‘who have washed their robes and 





Memorial Sermon. ee 


made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” I shall find him, 
seems to me to depend solely upon the question whether of God’s 
infinite mercy, myself shall enter there. And while the memory 
of the just is blessed upon Earth, I delight to think rather that 
the life of the just made perfect, is more blessed, by far, in 
Heaven; and so I comfort myself, and would comfort you, with 
the thought that our loss is his eternal gain. May God grant 
us our part with him in this exalted destiny when our great 
change shall come! 

The life upon which we have been meditating was peacefully 
closed on Beverly shore, September 5, in the forenoon, and two 
days later the dear remains were laid beside the ashes of his par- 
ents and kindred, in the village of his birth. O, that the memory 
of so much that was honorable, amiable, just and true, may abide 
with us as a quickening impulse! We are happy in having 
known and loved one of the noblest and best of men. We 
shall be happier if the recollection of him make us nobler and 
better ourselves. I believe that he would have us anew reminded 
to-day, that the rearing of character is the great work of life; 
and to that end he would have emphasized anew in our hear- 
ing, that great lesson of God’s word which rings as a clarion 
note. ‘*THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH BRINGETH SALVATION HATH 
APPEARED UNTO ALL MEN; TEACHING US THAT DENYING UNGODLI- 
NESS AND WORLDLY LUSTS, WE SHOULD LIVE SOBERLY, RIGHTEOUSLY 
AND GODLY IN THIS PRESENT WORLD, LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED 
HOPE, EVEN THE GLORIOUS APPEARING OF THE GREAT GOD AND 
OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST; WHO GAVE HIMSELF FOR US, THAT 
HE MIGHT REDEEM US FROM ALL INIQUITY, AND PURIFY UNTO HIM- 
SELF A PECULIAR PEOPLE, ZEALOUS OF GOOD WoRKS.” TO HIM 


BE GLORY AND DOMINION FOREVER. AMEN! 





PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


ESSEX BAR ASSOCIATION AND THE SUPERIOR COURT, 


ON THE DEATH OF 


HON. ASAHEL HUNTINGTON. 





SEPTEMBER, 1870. 








PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


ESSEX BAR ASSOCIATION AND THE SUPERIOR COURT, 


SEPTEMBER, 1870. 


OO 


Ar the opening of the September Term of the Superior Court, 
-at Newburyport, on Tuesday, the 6th of September, 1870, a 
special meeting of the Essex Bar Association was held, to take 
action upon the death of Mr. Huntington. There was a very 
full attendance of the Bar, Wm. C. Endicott, Esq., the Presi- 
dent of the Association, presiding. 

A committee was appointed, consisting of Hon. Alfred A. 
Abbott of Peabody, Hon. J. C. Perkins of Salem, Hon. Wm. D. 
Northend of Salem, Nathaniel G. White, Esq., of Lawrence, and 
Dean Peabody, Esq., of Lynn, to prepare a series of resolutions, 
or a memorial, as the committee should decide, to be presented 
to the Court. 

The following gentlemen were appointed as a delegation of the 
Bar to attend the funeral of Mr. Huntington. The President of 
the Association, the Sheriff of the County, Horatio G. Herrick, 
Esq., Nathan W. Harmon, Esq., of Lawrence, John J. Marsh, 
Esq., of Haverhill, Hon. Eben F. Stone of Newburyport, Hon. 
Thomas B. Newhall of Lynn, and Daniel Saunders, Jr., Esq., of 


Lawrence. 


FL Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


It was also voted that the President be directed to move, on 
behalf of the Bar, that the Court adjourn without transacting any 
business until Monday, Sept. 18th, and also to inform the Court 
that the Bar desired at an early day, to pay a proper tribute of 
respect and affection to the memory of Mr. Huntington. 

This motion was made by the President, and the Court ad- 
journed. 


At a subsequent meeting of the Bar, a memorial, prepared by 
Mr. Abbott, was reported by him from the committee appointed 
at the last meeting. It was voted that the same be presented to 
the Court, and that the President, with Mr. Abbott, and the 
Sheriff, be a committee to make the necessary arrangements for 
its presentation. 

On Monday, Sept. 19th, in the Superior Court, then in session 
in Salem, Judge Putnam presiding, at three P. M. the cause on 
trial was suspended that the proceedings of the Bar might be 
presented to the Court. Notice had been previously given, and 
there was a large attendance of the Bar, and many citizens and 


friends of Mr. Huntington were present. 
Mr. Abbott then read the following memorial : — 


May IT PLEASE youR Honor:—The Hon. Asahel Huntington, 
one of the oldest members of the Essex Bar, and, at the time 
of his decease, its senior member in active professional labor, de- 
parted this life on Monday, the 5th instant, at the age of three- 
score and twelve years. 

On the day following, the 6th instant, at the coming in of the 
Court for the present term, at Newburyport, a meeting of the 





Proceedings of the Essex Bar Association, Ftc. FS 


Essex Bar Association was held, and a committee appointed to 
embody in suitable form the sentiments of the members of the 
Bar, upon the death of their distinguished brother and _ friend ; 
and the action of that committee having been approved and 
adopted by the Association, is now, by its order, respectfully pre- 
sented to the Court, that the same may be entered upon its rec- 
ords, there to testify to those who shall come after them, the 
respect, veneration .and love, with which his brethren cherished 
the memory of the lamented dead. 

Mr. Huntington was born at Topsfield, in this county, July 
23d, 1798. He was the son of the Rey. Asahel Huntington, the 
congregational minister of that town, a man of the old New Eng- 
land type, the influence of whose sterling traits and wise counsels 
did much to mould the character and shape the life of his dis- 
tinguished son. He was fitted for College at Phillips Academy, 
Andover, graduated in course at Yale, in 1819, and pursued the 
study of the law in the offices of Mr. Scott, of Newburyport, 
and Judge Cummings, of Salem. He was admitted to practice in 
the Court of Common Pleas, at the March Term, 1824 (having 
spent a portion of his time after leaving college, in teaching), 
was made an Attorney of the Supreme Judicial Court, at the 
November Term, 1826, and two years thereafter became a Coun- 
sellor. Upon his first coming to the Bar, he commenced business 
in Salem (where he remained through his whole life), and at once 
entered upon a professional career, busy, eventful, useful and 
honored, from first to last. 

In 1830 Mr. Huntington had so established his position and 
vindicated his claims to preferment, that he was appointed County 
Attorney, subsequently District Attorney (his field embracing 


Essex and a part of Middlesex), and afterwards Attorney for the 


SL Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


Eastern District, and this post of prosecuting officer he filled for 
nearly twenty years. To many of the present generation of law- 
yers his discharge of these official duties is matter of tradition. 
But they have heard from his earlier cotemporaries, of the zeal, 
the energy, the perseverance, the fearlessness and fidelity, the 
marked ability and the moral force with which he vindicated the 
majesty of the law and pursued and punished crime. It was in 
this position that Mr. Huntington won a reputation which was 
not confined to his native county, but gained a name and fame 
throughout the Commonwealth. He had to meet and contend with 
strong opponents, and was engaged in not a few cases which have 
become historic, but he shunned no encounter, and proved himself 
equal to every emergency. Mr. Choate, who came to the Bar in 
the same year with Mr. Huntington, and between whom and Mr. 
Huntington there existed an ardent friendship which was of life- 
long duration, Mr. Saltonstall, Mr. Cushing, Mr. Rantoul, Mr. 
Nathaniel J. Lord, Mr. Ward, with many others of eminent 
ability and skill, some of whom have passed away, and others of 
whom yet survive to dignify the Bench or adorn the Bar, were — 
the men whom our deceased friend encountered in forensic strife, 
and always with credit and honor. In the noted Wyman trial he 
had to cope with Daniel Webster, and although the greatest law- 
yer of his age then exerted to the utmost his gigantic powers in 
defence of his client, the Government found in its Attorney an 
undaunted and worthy representative, who fairly divided the hon- 
ors of the famous struggle. 

Mr. Huntington’s labors were by no means limited to the 
criminal side of the Court. He had an extensive general prac- 
tice, and was retained in many of the more important civil causes | 


of his day. He had always great and acknowledged strength 





Proceedings of the Essex Bar Association, Fete. SIT 


with an Essex county jury. In the first place, he was emphati- 
cally an Essex county man. A native, proud of the old Shire, 
familiar with her historic days and names, knowing all her local 
traditions, and conversant with her men and _ business, heartily 
sustaining every movement and supporting every institution which 
promised to advance her prosperity and welfare, from youth to old 
age he was an embodiment of the average sentiment of Essex 
county, in morals, politics and religion, and peculiarly one of her 
representative men. Then, as a lawyer, he entered with his whole 
soul into whatever cause he espoused. Sanguine, impassioned, 
vehement, not so much versed in the knowledge of cases and the 
nice learning of the law, as well grounded in its general and 
fundamental principles and familiar with and skilled in its prac- 
tice, with a homely but strong logic, a manly good sense and 
sound judgment, a large acquaintance with men and affairs, and 
a perseverance and tenacity of purpose which sometimes even 
verged on obstinacy, with a flow of good humor and at the same 
time a caustic wit and power of satire which could be made 
terribly severe, with a sort of sledge-hammer style of enforcing 
his points, and beating them into convictions in the minds of 
others, and all this set off by a bluff, cordial, and hearty manner, 
and aided by the moral effect of a private character above re- 
proach, it is not strange that Mr. Huntington had the confidence 
alike of clients and juries, that he was an eminently successful 
practitioner and advocate, and that he always kept in the front 
rank of the very ablest of his cotemporaries. 

In 1851, Mr. Huntington, waiving the pursuit of higher honors 
to which he might well have aspired, accepted the appointment of 
Clerk of the Courts for the County, and in that office remained 
to the day of his death. It was in this position that he was best 


SC Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


known to, and will be more particularly remembered by, a major- 
ity of the present members of the Bar. There is no professional 
place more responsible than this, none the incumbent of which 
can do more for the convenience and comfort of his brethren, or 
for the orderly, reputable, and correct administration of justice. 
And, accordingly, the proper qualifications for it are exceptional 
and rare. To a_ sufficient degree of clerical accomplishments 
should be added an experimental knowledge of wide and varied 
practice, a full familiarity with the routine of business in the 
different courts, aptness, facility, promptness and method, critical 
accuracy and generous culture, patience and good temper, with 
decision and firmness, and, crowning all, that integrity of life, 
that affability of manners and dignity of presence and demeanor 
which can aid so much in securing respect for our judicial tribu- 
nals. To say that Mr. Huntington reached in full perfection this 
ideal standard, would be to attribute to him attainments and 
graces which were rarely if ever united in one man. But that he 
combined these qualifications to a remarkable extent, will be 
readily agreed. In no county of the Commonwealth have the 
proceedings in Court been conducted with more propriety, decorum 
and success than in Essex during his incumbency, and, upon the 
concurrent testimony of judges and lawyers, there is no county 
in which the Clerk has done more to systematize the practice, 
elevate the tone of manners and morals, and lend dignity and 
grace to the public administration of the law. Bench and Bar 
will deeply feel the irreparable loss occasioned by his death, but 
by his brethren of Essex will it be the most keenly appreciated. 
To the old he has been a trusted adviser; to the young a wise 
and faithful mentor; to all a counsellor and friend. He has held 
up and inculcated the highest standards of professional duty and 





Proceedings of the Essex Bar Association, Ftc. 37 


honor. He has in his own example furnished a striking model 
of professional conduct and courtesy. He has ever taken the 
liveliest interest in whatever concerned the good name or welfare 
of his associates. He has kept fresh the memories of the great 
lawyers of other days, and encouraged and inspired us by the 
recital of their achievements and successes. In an especial man- 
ner has he labored to preserve the decent observance of those 
mortuary tributes and rites which our fraternal relations so fully 
justify and demand. No worthy brother has passed away, whether 
from the obscure retirement of old age and infirmity, or from the 
arena of active duties, but that Mr. Huntington has been the first 
to recall and rehearse in charitable and affectionate words his 
merits, and to pay to his memory the last tokens of regard. 
And now that he too has gone, what less can we do than pause 
for a moment in our busy course, drop a loving tear upon his 
new-made. erave, and while we recall with admiring recollection 
the strong mind, the resolute will, the kind heart, the eloquent 
speech, the genial presence, thank God for the blessing of his 
upright and useful life, testify to all men our appreciation of his 
worth, and here, within these walls where the echoes of his voice 
and the light of his countenance seem yet to linger, piously 
resolve to imitate his virtues and profit by his noble example? 
Although what Mr. Huntington was, and what he did as a law- 
yer, is of more particular interest to his brethren, yet any sketch 
of him would be incomplete which failed to make some mention 
of his life and labors outside of his profession. From early man- 
hood he always took a prominent part in public affairs. His 
fellow citizens commanded his services in the State Legislature, 
in the Constitutional Convention of 1853, as Mayor of the city 
of his residence, as the head of various institutions and corpora- 


3S Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


tions—and there was no good cause or deserving enterprise of 
his day in which he did not warmly enlist and support’ with all 
his characteristic zeal and ability. Probably no man personally ~ 
knew or was personally known to so many of the people of 
Essex county, especially of the older class, and by all he was 
held in respect, by multitudes with strong personal regard. He 
was an active, earnest and loyal citizen, a kind and hospitable 
neighbor, a true and steadfast friend, an honest Christian gentle- 
man. From the community of which he was thus the ornament 
and pride, from the fraternity who were bound to him by strong 
and tender ties, from the domestic circle upon whose sacred 
sorrows no stranger may intrude, he has been suddenly taken 
away, but yet fortunate in the opportunity of his death as of his 
life. Although he had passed the allotted years of man, no 
lingering disease had wasted his powers, no infirmities of mind 
or body indicated the ravages of age. His eye was not dim nor 
his natural force abated. His countenance still wore the fresh- 
ness of youth, his step was elastic and firm, his whole bearing 
manly and vigorous, his spirits as generous and free, and his heart 
seemingly as young as in the prime of life. And so, leaving this 
bright image stamped ineffaceably upon the memories of all, his 
work on earth fully done, he passed from among us, and with 
faith in God and trust in a Redeemer, went to his eternal rest. 

May it please your Honor, I now move, in behalf of the 
members of the Essex Bar Association, that this memorial of 
their departed friend and brother may be placed upon the records 
of the Court. 


Wm. C. Endicott, Esq., President of the Essex Bar, then ad- 
dressed the Court, and concluded by seconding, on behalf of the 





Proceedings of the Essex Bar Association, Ftc. 3D 


Bar, the motion of Mr. Abbott. Addresses were also made by 
the District Attorney, Edgar J. Sherman, Esq., of Lawrence, Hon. 
J. C. Perkins, of Salem, Hon. Thomas B. Newhall, of Lynn, 
Henry Carter, Esq., of Haverhill, Hon. Wm. D. Northend, of Sa- 
lem, Hon. Eben F. Stone, of Newburyport and Stephen B. Ives, 
Jr., Esq., of Salem. 

It is seldom, on occasions like this, that so many desire to 
bear public testimony to the worth and virtues of the dead. The 
tributes, thus paid, were full of feeling, and bore witness, not 
only ‘to the respect with which Mr. Huntington was regarded, but 
to the warm affections he inspired. 


Judge Putnam then addressed the Bar as follows: 


GENTLEMEN OF THE Bar or Essex:—The death of one who 
occupied so prominent a position as our late friend and _ brother 
in this community—one so much beloved and esteemed by us 
all, and one so worthy of all the love and respect which were 
heaped upon him—is an event which may well call for more than 
a mere passing notice; and it is eminently proper that we should 
pause for a moment at least, in the midst of our professional 
pursuits, for the purpose of paying a fitting tribute to his 
memory. 

I have listened, with feelings of the deepest sensibility to the 
words of affectionate remembrance and eulogy which have fallen 
from the lips of those of you who knew him and appreciated 
him so well. And while in behalf of the Superior Court, which I 
have the honor to represent, I tender to you my sincerest sympa- 
thy in the loss which you have sustained, I feel how inadequate 
will be any suggestions of my own to add to the impression 


40 Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


which your own eloquent and touching words have left in the 
hearts of all whom I see around me. I deem it a privilege, 
however, to be permitted to add very briefly my own heartfelt 
tribute to the memory of the deceased. 

Of Mr. Huntington as a lawyer, it does not become me to 
speak in this presence. You who were his associates at the Bar 
have just told us of the professional success and honor -which 
crowned him, and it is enough for me to say that he has left be- 
hind. him, as a lawyer, a reputation which any of us might envy. 
Nor.do I propose to add one word to what has been so fitly said 
in your memorial, of the almost faultless manner in which he 
discharged his official duties as District Attorney and Clerk of 
the Courts. I propose only to allude, very briefly, to some traits 
of his personal character, which seem to me worthy of notice. 

My acquaintance with Mr. Huntington began when I first 
came to this county to discharge the duties of this Court, soon 
after its organization, in 1860. I can never forget the strong 
impression he at once made upon me, and how soon I came to 
esteem and love him. I was often with him during the intermis- 
sions of the Court. His conversation at those times showed me 
how much he retained his love for his profession, and his interest 
in its welfare. He always closely watched the trial of cases of 
importance, and his remarks from time to time as to the manage- 
ment of them, indicated how keenly he still relished the conflicts 
of the Bar, and how jealous he still was for the professional 
honor and success of his former associates. He had an innate 
sense of justice which never suffered him to be silent when he 
saw that a wrong was intended to be done. He denounced with 
a special aversion and contempt, all meanness and hypocrisy of 
every kind. He saw, at once, through all shams and pretences, 





Proceedings of the Hssex Bar Association, Ftc. 47 


but in his criticisms there was nothing rancorous or malignant. 
His instincts were all kindly and genial. In simplicity and 
truthfulness of character, he was almost childlike, and yet, in 
firmness, courage and inflexibility of purpose, he was almost 
heroic. He was active and prominent in all the moral and 
benevolent enterprises of the day. He was a Christian without 
any bigotry, for he esteemed personal character as deeper than 
any creed. 

In his social and private life he endeared himself to every 
one. His personal recollections of men and events of former 
days, particularly of those connected with this immediate vicinity, 
were abundant and always interesting. As a friend, he was ever 
true and faithful. His warm, genial, and sympathizing heart had 
a place for all and a kindly greeting for all. His tastes were all 
pure, simple and healthful. 

He was always cheerful and hopeful. The great philosophic 
poet of England seems to me not inaptly to have characterized 
our friend in these words: 


“A man he seemed of cheerful yesterdays, 
And confident to-morrows; with a face 
Not worldly minded, for it bore too much 
Of Nature’s impress—gayety and health, 
Freedom and hope; but keen withal and shrewd; 
His gestures, note,—and hark! his tones of voice 
Ayre all vivacious as his mien and looks.” 


And now, while the glory of the summer is waning, and all 
nature is rendering up to us her rich and golden harvests, we 
have returned our friend, in the ripeness and maturity of his 
years, to the bosom of his mother earth. It is difficult to realize 
that he has actually passed away from us. We shall miss him 


42 Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


from his accustomed seat. We shall behold no longer before us 
that benignant countenance, that noble presence—itself a per- 
petual benediction. We shall continue to press on in our hot 
pursuit of the shadows of life, while he has already grasped the 
realities. But we shall never forget his many virtues, for we 
have enshrined them in our hearts and affections. 

Your memorial, gentlemen, seems to be but a fitting tribute to 
the character of our deceased friend, and I shall order it to be 
entered at length on the records of this Court. 


PROCEEDINGS 





OF VARIOUS. SOCIETIES AND CORPORATIONS WITH WHICH 


MR. HUNTINGTON WAS CONNECTED. 


at 








mrs OL Uhl © N.S: 


ESSEX INSTITUTE. 


Tue committee appointed at the meeting of the Essex Institute, 
held Sept. 5, to prepare a series of resolutions upon the death of 
their late ex-president, Hon. AsAnEeL Hunrineron, respectfully re- 
port as follows :— 

(Signed) ABNER C. GOODELL, Jr., 


For Committee. 
ALLEN W. DODGE, 
A. C. GOODELL, Committee. 
JAMES KIMBALL, i 


Resolved, That the Essex Institute receives the tidings of the 
death of AsaneL Huntineron, a former president of this Society, 
with emotions of surprise and grief. The suddenness of the 
event, which would have been unlooked for because of the general 
good health and strength of the deceased, even if his illness had 
been of longer duration, is as impressive as the knowledge of 
the loss of a member of society, so useful, and so widely known, 
and respected. 


fesolved, 'That this Society acknowledges its indebtedness to 
the deceased for the interest he manifested in its success, and for 
the services rendered by him while chief presiding officer; and 
its members, as his fellow citizens, bear testimony to his uniform 
urbanity, his great industry, and his devotion to so many objects 
conducive to the public good. 


46 City of Salem. 


Resolved, That the Hon. Ors P. Lorp be invited to prepare a 
memorial address upon the life and character of the deceased, to 
be read at a meeting of the Institute. 


Resolved, That this Society express its sympathy for the family 
of the deceased in their bereavement by communicating to them 
a copy of these resolutions, and that the same be recorded by 
the Secretary. 


At the Special Meeting of the Institute called for this pur- 
pose the above resolutions were unanimously adopted. a. 
JOHN ROBINSON, Secretary. 
SALEM, Sept. 9th, 1870. 


In Crry Councm, Ciry or Satem, 
September 12th, 1870. 


Whereas, By the inscrutable decrees of Providence we have 
been called upon to mourn the loss by death of Hon. Asanet 
Hountineton, formerly Chief Magistrate of this City, and 


Whereas, We are desirous of placing upon record some testi- 
monial of our sense of the loss, and of our respect and esteem for 
the deceased as a citizen and magistrate, and of recognizing his 
faithful performance of the duties of Mayor of our City, therefore, 


Resolved, That by the death of the late AsaAnen Huntineron 
the City has lost one who, during his long residence among us, 
was a useful, honored and respected citizen; one who possessing, 





Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company. eT 


as he did in the highest degree, the confidence of all, was repeat- 
edly called to offices of honor and trust. and who brought to the 
discharge of their duties that eminent ability and tireless energy 
which were ever his characteristics. 


ftesolved, That these Resolutions be entered at large on the 
records of the City, and a copy thereof furnished to the family 
of the deceased in token of our sympathy with them in their 


affliction. 
In Boarp or ALDERMEN, 


September 12th, 1870. 
Unanimously adopted and sent down for concurrence. 


S. P. WEBB, Clerk. 


In Common Covuncit, 


September 12th, 1870. 
Unanimously concurred in. 


E. N. WALTON, Clerk. 


NAUMKEAG STEAM COTTON COMPANY. 


Ar a meeting of the Directors of the Naumxrac Steam Corron 
Company, held September 17th, 1870, the committee appointed at 
the last meeting (consisting of Mr. William C. Endicott, Mr. 
Francis Cox and Mr. John D. Parker), presented, through Mr. 
Endicott, the following resolutions, which after an address by the 
Chairman, Mr. Richard P. Waters, were unanimously adopted. 


48 Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company. 


Resolved, That the Directors of the Naumkeag Steam Cotton 
Company desire to express their full appreciation of the life and 
character of their late President, the Hon. AsanreL HuntTINGTON, 
and their deep sense of the great loss which they have sustained 
in his death. 

He was an honest and true man, earnest in his action, sin- 
cere in his convictions, and conscientious in his conduct. He 
endeavored always to do what was right, and was aided by a 
devout spirit and a strong religious faith. Endowed with large 
abilities and a vigorous and determined will, he was most efficient 
in whatever he undertook, and was a zealous champion of any 
cause he espoused. As a lawyer he gained a wide reputation, 
as a public officer he was without reproach, and in the various 
and important trusts committed to his charge he had the esteem 
and confidence of his fellow men. As a friend he was beloved 
for his warm heart, his ready sympathy and willing ear, his kind- 
liness and cordiality of manner. After a long life of usefulness, 
in the full maturity of his powers, before his bodily strength 
failed him or his mind was dimmed by age, he has been gathered 
to his fathers; leaving to the world an honorable name and a 
precious memory to those who loved him. 


fiesolved, That we can testify to the great interest he ever 
felt in this Corporation, to his zealous efforts for its prosperity 
and success, and to the steady fidelity with which he performed 
the duties of his office. We recall with pleasure the personal 
relations he sustained to the members of this Board. We can 
never forget his genial presence and his hearty greeting, and 
shall ever esteem it among the pleasures and privileges of life 
to have enjoyed his friendship. 





Dummer Academy. 49 





esolved, That we tender our sincere sympathy to his family 
in their great affliction, and the Clerk is instructed to send them 
a copy of these resolutions. 
RICHARD P. WATERS, 


President pro tem. 
Henry D. Suriivan, Clerk. 


Salem, Sept. 19th, 1870. 


DUMMER ACADEMY. 


NeEwsouryport, Mass., 
To Oct. 4th, 1870. 
‘Mrs. AsAHEL HUNTINGTON, 


Dear Madam:— At a recent meeting of the Trustees 
of Dummer Acapremy the following expression of their feelings 
was made at their loss of an endeared and highly esteemed 
associate. 

The Hon. Asanet Huntineron having been connected with the 
government of this venerable institution for a quarter of a century, 
and during that entire period having contributed, without stint, 
his time and talents to the administration of its affairs, we, his 
surviving associates esteem it a duty and a privilege to testify 
our deep sense of grief and bereavement at his decease, and our 
appreciation of his great worth. 

Notwithstanding the calls of a laborious profession, and the 
demands upon him in varied spheres of honorable employment, 


5O Dummer Academy. 


no one was more prompt and regular in attendance at the meetings 
of the Board, to aid by his advice and counsel from the rich 
fund of wisdom and experience with which his mind was stored. 
He labored unweariedly to promote the best good of the school, 
to extend its usefulness, and to make it, as designed by its 
founder more than a century ago, a nursery wherein ‘to qualify 
youth for important offices in Church and State.” In times of 
depression to which it has been subjected, no one was more 
hopeful of the future, or enjoyed more fully the dawning of its 
return to its ancient renown. Full of ready sympathy, when 
personal misfortunes overtook any of ,the Trustees, the Teachers 
or the Students, he sorrowed with them in all their calamities. 
We join with the whole community in mourning the loss of a 
wise counsellor, a discreet philanthropist, a good citizen, but 
especially do we lament him as our friend and associate on this 
Board. 


ftesolved, That this tribute be entered by the Secretary upon 
our records, and that a copy be transmitted to his family in tes- 
timony of the esteem which we entertained for him while living, 
and of the regard with which we shall never cease to hold his 
memory now that he has gone. 


fesolved, That these proceedings be published in the ‘‘ Salem 
Gazette” and ‘‘ Newburyport Herald.” 


With very kind regards, I am 
Truly yours, 


S. J. SPALDING. 





flolyoke Mutual Fire Insurance Company. 57 


OrriceE Hotyoke Mutua Frere Insurance Co., 
Satem, Mass., October 5th, 1870. 


At a meeting of the Directors of the Company held at their 
office on Tuesday, 4th inst., the following resolutions were unan- 
imously adopted : 


Whereas, Since the last meeting of this Board it has pleased 
the Divine Disposer of all events, to remove from us, by death, 
our late associate, the Hon. Asanen HUNTINGTON. 


Resolved, That we avail ourselves with melancholy satisfaction, 
of this occasion, to express our profound sorrow for his loss, and 
to add our tribute to the many that have been rendered, of peer 
to his memory and his character. 


Resolved, That while we gladly recognize and testify to the 
unsullied integrity, personal worth, sound learning and varied 
information of the deceased, we desire here more especially to 
express our high appreciation of the conscientious fidelity, with 
which, amid graver cares and responsibilities, he discharged his- 
duties as a member of this Board, and as one of its Committees. 
His tact and good judgment, his large influence and legal knowl- 
edge often indicated him as peculiarly qualified for certain special 
duties which, when requested by the Board he accepted with 
ready courtesy. We shall miss much his valuable aid and his 
untiring devotion to the interests of the Company, but yet more 
shall we miss the sweet charm and benediction of his presence. 

A true copy of Record, 


Attest, 
THOMAS H. JOHNSON, 


Sec’y Holyoke Insurance Company. 


52 fssex South District Temperance Onion. 


ESSEX SOUTH DISTRICT TEMPERANCE UNION. 


SaLEemM, October 5th, 1870. 


To the family and friends of the late Hon. Asanet Huntineron : 


I have been directed by the Essex South District Temperance 
Union to forward to you the following Preamble and Resolutions 
passed by them at their Annual Meeting, held in Beverly this 


day : 
Very respectfully, 


E. VALENTINE, Secretary. 


Whereas, it hath pleased God in his infinite wisdom to remove 
from among us, one of our most earnest, able and active members, 
the Hon. AsanEeL Huntineton of Salem, therefore 


Resolved, That we hereby express our unfeigned sorrow at this 
sad event; and bear our testimony to his worth as a man and a 
citizen, and to his life long labors in and for this great reform. 
That his services have been invaluable to our cause; and his 


name will ever be revered and honored. 


Resolved, That we hereby express our heartfelt sympathy with 
the bereaved family in this hour of their affliction and commend 
them to Him who is the God of the widow, and the Father of the 


fatherless. 


Resolved, That a copy of these Resolutions be sent to the 
family of the deceased and be published in the Daily papers. 








MrmorrtaL ADDRESS 


BY 


fee OPIS P LORD. 


DELIVERED BEFORE 


THE ESSEX INSTITUTE, 


AT A SPECIAL MEETING 


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1871. 


— 





- 





MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 


Mr. PresipEnt: It is an ordination of Providence, that social life 
shall be continuous. Communities do not cease to exist. Their 
members are constantly passing away, and they are succeeded by 
‘others and the common life goes steadily on. The vacancy occa- 
sioned by the departure of an individual, however eminent, is soon 
filled. As the human organization remains the same, though its 
constituent particles are in process of perpetual decay and re- 
newal, so a community continues to be identical, though every 
member of it is changed. It is, indeed, only natural that in our 
first thoughts upon the void occasioned by the death of a great 
and good man, we should feel that society itself has undergone 
a change, and that the loss to it is irreparable; and when. the 
death is that of an intimate and prized friend, there comes, also, 
the feeling of opportunities lost, of occasions neglected when we 
should have learned more of his virtues and treasured more care- 
fully his excellences; the feeling, that if the companionship could 
be restored to us, but for a short time, we would know him better 
and more intimately. . 

In the freshness of our sorrow we overlook a great law of 
human existence, which reasserts itself on calmer reflection, and 
we perceive that grief like this is a superficial and, to some ex- 


tent, a selfish emotion. 


(55) 


56 Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


It is undoubtedly a beneficent arrangement of the Divine wis- 
dom, that we live with our friends not as if they were about to 
die, but rather as though they would be always with us. If, in 
obedience to that law by which death is appointed for all, a 
friend is taken away, we have his life to comfort and instruct us. 

The only memorial of the good man, which is not worthless, is 
a review of his life—a recurrence to his daily walk, with all its 
acts and charities, in which we find the evidences and the ele- 
ments of character. Statues and mausoleums are meaningless, if 
the life, which they would commemorate, does not give them 
vitality ; for we value the tomb because of the life which conse- 
crates it, and not the life because of the tomb, however splendid. 
The grandest sepulchres of the world, immortalizing no great 
deed, are regarded but as monuments of wasted labor; while the 
mere recital of one high act of charity, which developed the life 
and character of a poor and obscure widow, is itself a memorial 
that can never perish. 

It is in this view that I have accepted your invitation to pre- 
pare and read before you a memorial of our late honored and 
respected fellow citizen—the Honorable AsaneL Huntineton — 
and I shall best satisfy myself, and, I doubt not, you also, by a 
simple narration of those incidents and traits, which secured to 
him the eminent position he held while he lived, and which afford 
to us the sweet memories that we would fondly cherish. 

He was born at Topsfield, in this county, July 23, 1798. He 
was the son of Rev. Asahel and Mrs. Alethea (Lord) Huntington. 
At the time of his birth, his father was the acceptable and 
beloved pastor of the Congregational church and society of that 
town. His first ancestor, who arrived in this country, landed in 


Boston, in 1633, a widow with five children; her husband, Simon 





Memorial Address. OF 


Huntington, from Norwich in England, having died upon the 
passage. One of these children, Christopher Huntington, settled 
in Norwich, Connecticut. Christopher’s son Christopher lived in 
that part of Norwich, which is now Franklin. His son, Barnabas, 
was the father of Rev. Asahel Huntington, the father of him 
whose life we commemorate. All these men, influential and 
respected in their time, holding commanding positions in the 
church and in their municipalities, were of the kind which created 
New England character. The farm which the second Christo- 
pher owned and occupied in Franklin, was lately owned and 
occupied by Azariah Huntington, a cousin of our friend, having 
descended unalienated and undivided through four generations. 
The mother of Asahel was one of five daughters of Dr. Elisha 
Lord of Pomfret, Connecticut, ‘‘a good physician and a good 
man.” ‘These five sisters were all married, and with one excep- 
tion left children surviving them. The eldest married Dr. Nehe- 
miah Cleaveland and resided in Topsfield. They were all, for 
their time, of unusual culture. Though separated by a long 
distance difficult to be overcome, a year seldom passed without 
a reunion either in Connecticut or Massachusetts. These delight- 
ful gatherings were not without influence as well upon the sub- 
ject of these remarks as upon others connected with them. En- 
dowed by nature with persons more than comely, with marked 
superiority of intellect, and graced by those charms of character 
which delight and attract, they were women from whom descend 
men of the highest type of manhood. 

Upon both sides our friend came from unmixed Puritan stock. 
The Rev. Mr. Huntington, his father, was graduated with the 
highest honors of the class at Dartmouth College in 1786, and 
was settled in Topsfield in 1789. He was a true specimen of 


58 Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 





the New England pastor, and might well have sat for the village 
preacher of Goldsmith : 


‘““A man he was to all the country dear, 
And passing rich with forty pounds a year.” 
The village pastor, of the latter part of the last century and the 
beginning of this, is a character unknown at the present day. 

Like most others of the class, Mr. Huntington was pastor, farm- 
er and schoolmaster. A portion of the time he taught the public 
school, or, in the language of the day, he kept the town school. 
His teaching, however, was not thus limited. As was the custom 
at that time, when there were few academies and no high schools, 
he, like many other clergymen, took scholars from abroad into 
his family, some to fit for college, others, especially mates of 
vessels, to educate in the science of navigation. Besides his own 
children, he had pupils from Boston, from this city, from New- 
buryport, from Ipswich and occasionally a Creole from the West 
Indies. 

It is, of itself, a eulogy upon his character and influence that 
so many young men from the small village of Topsfield and its 
vicinity were induced and aided by him to seek a public educa- 
tion. Of these, were that beloved man, so affectionately remem- — 
bered by all the older citizens of this place, the Hon. David 
Cummins, for many years a leader of the bar of this county, and 
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas—as pure minded and up- 
right a magistrate as ever graced the ermine in any State; the 
late Benjamin Althorp Gould, so long the distinguished master of 
the Boston Latin School; the Hon. Asa Waldo Wildes, for many 
years the chairman of the County. Commissioners of this county ; 
Rey. Jacob Hood, Rev. Ebenezer Perkins, Dr. Israel Balch, Dr. 


all well known in this 





Josiah Lamson, and Dr. George Osborne 





Memorial Address.  b9 








vicinity. There was, also, another pupil during several years 
under his instruction, a cousin of Asahel, Nehemiah Cleaveland, 
LL. D., the elegant scholar and accomplished gentleman, who 
long presided over that ancient institution, known as Dummer 
Academy, beloved and respected by all his pupils; still living in 
advanced and vigorous manhood, receiving the grateful esteem of 
hundreds of pupils, whose course and usefulness in life had its 
first impulse from his kind and courteous instruction. I am glad 
to be able on this occasion to pay my personal tribute of respect 
and affectionate veneration to my earliest instructor in an aca- 
demic institution, and to acknowledge my indebtedness to him 
for what is of value in this memorial of his kinsman, between 
whom and himself, during a contemporaneous life of three-score 
and ten years, there had been unbroken, mutual confidence, re-— 
spect and love. 

The fitting a young gentleman for college was, then, an entire- 
ly different thing from the same task, at present; and without 
making comparisons, the village clergyman of Topsfield might 
well have boasted of the preparations he had made. It was not 
usual, at that time, to test the capacity of a boy’s mind by the 
quantity of heterogeneous matter which could be crammed into it. 
The foundation of instruction was discipline. The mind and body 
were both disciplined; obedience and self-control were cardinal 
virtues. The mind was an instrument to work, and by discipline 
to become self-acting, and to impress itself upon its acts; not a 
mere reservoir, to receive what could be forced into it and to 
take impression from what came in contact with it. A preparation 
for college was rather to teach the boy how to study than merely 
to impart knowledge. . 

Like most fathers of the time Mr. Huntington thought it de- 


CO Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


sirable that his son should have the advantage of study away 
from home, and at the age of eleven years he was sent to the 
academy at Bradford and became a boarder in the family of 
Rev. Mr. Allen, then the minister of the town. The means 
of the father did not justify the payment of board, and Asahel 
was taken into the family of a brother clergyman and boarded 
in compensation for the labor he could perform in taking care 
of the minister’s cow and horse, and doing the chores of the 
family. Young as he was, the advantages from this contract were 
not all on his side. Even before this period, I have the authority 
of the cousin, to whom I have referred, for saying: —‘*he was 
sensible and serious, earnest and practical, a willing, capable and 
diligent boy. In a family like his father’s, with a small farm to 
be looked after, there is always plenty of work, and this strong, 
willing lad early began to do more, perhaps, than his share. No 
labor within the compass of his ability was so hard or so unpleas- 
ant, that he did not bend to it with a will. The problem of 
life—in so far as that means the getting of a living — seemed 
to have caught his attention at a period when boys, in general, 
think of little beyond their studies and their play. He discovered 
very early the value of property, being eager to earn and careful 
to save.” By laboring for the neighbors in the vicinity for small 
compensation, by raising fowls and husbanding their produce, he 
was enabled to embark in the business of sheep raising, and while 
yet a mere lad, became the owner of a flock of very considerable 
value. During his stay at Bradford I am inclined to think that he 
acquired but little except discipline — and those associations and 
memories with which, in the latter years of his life, he was ac- 
customed, occasionally, to regale his more intimate acquaintances. 


He was in his fifteenth year when his father died, after an ill- 





Memorial Address. O7 








ness of only four days. His elder brother, Elisha, afterwards a 
physician of much respectability, and frequently honored with 
important trusts by the people of Lowell, where he resided, and 
also by the people of the Commonwealth in electing him to the 
office of Lieut. Governor, was, at the time, in college. A younger 
brother, Hezekiah, who died quite young, was sickly and weak, 
and the care of the home and farm devolved almost wholly upon 
Asahel. These duties he performed with an ability and discretion 
beyond his years. He had all. but the entire direction and did a 
large part of the work with his own hands. 

Dr. Nehemiah Cleaveland, between whom and his brother-in-law 
there existed a friendship of unusual strength with a mutual con- 
fidence, administered upon the estate of Mr. Huntington, and 
became the legal guardian of the five fatherless children. The 
property, though considerable, in view of the circumstances and 
conditions under which it had been acquired, was yet hardly equal 
in amount to our friend’s annual official income, during the last 
years of his life. As the guardian, and kind, judicious friend of 
young Asahel, Dr. Cleaveland did much towards laying the solid 
foundations of his character, and was at that time undoubtedly 
more instrumental in accomplishing the wishes and aims of his 
relative in the education of his son, than any, or than all other 
persons; and it would not be pardoned, if I omitted a passing 
notice of this most excellent man. 

Inheriting from a father, who was eminently a patriot Christian 
pastor, the principles of the men who laid the foundations of our 
republic, and himself, when a mere boy of seventeen, enlisting in 
the service of the country. during one of the darkest years of 
the revolutionary struggle, he lived to become a marked man in the 


history of his native county. Deprived, by the severity of the 


62 Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


times, of the collegiate education which his father had designed 
for him, he devoted himself after leaving the army, to the study 
of medicine, first at Byfield under the care of his brother, Dr. 
Parker Cleaveland, and subsequently in Ipswich, under the tuition 
of Dr. John Manning, then eminent as a physician, and com- 
menced the practice of his profession in Topsfield. During a 
long and honorable life, he enjoyed the respectful esteem of his 
contemporaries; called at various times to the highest political 
and judicial offices in the county, he performed every duty with 
an ability and fidelity which reflected upon him high honor. 

To the care of such a counsellor was young Huntington com- 
‘mitted ; and I should fail in that part of my duty, which my 
friend, could he speak, would be least willing to have omitted, 
did I not speak of. the parental care and affection, which this 
truly wise and affectionate guardian bestowed upon his young 
ward. The little patrimony was carefully and anxiously pre- 
served. By his counsels and by his support, the young man was 
encouraged and sustained in all the efforts and sacrifices necessa- 
ry to secure the education, which the death of his father had well 
nigh prevented. Of him might our friend say, in the language 
of the youthful bard: 


“Some I remember and will ne’er forget, 
‘My early friends * * * # 
My counsellors * by * my guides 
Od PR Re aa, | ee ee 


My oracles, my wings in high pursuit.” 


The influences which form and develop character are silent and 
oftentimes secret, and yet, so far as we can now see, we are au- 
thorized to attribute the course and the character of our friend 


very much to the formative guidance and direction of his beloved 











Memorial Address. OF 





and respected uncle, whose interest in the welfare of his ward 
continued long after he had entered upon the active scenes and 
duties of life. 

. When, at the close of the sad, industrious summer which suc- 
ceeded the death of his father, the uncle advised his nephew and 
ward to enter Phillips’ Academy, with a view to college, he at 
first objected, from doubts and fears of the expense. He knew 
how small was his own share of the little property, and proba- 
bly thought that his mother and sisters, and perhaps his brothers, 
might feel the need of his continued and not unskilful toil. But 
the judicious friend, then standing in the place of a parent, un- 
derstood his capacities and knew much more than he did of life 
and the world, and soon convinced him that an education, though 
at first expensive and liable to be embarrassing, would more than 
repay its cost, and be far better in the end not only for him- 
self, but for those in whom he felt so deeply interested. 

Yielding to these considerations, he entered Phillips’ Academy 
in the autumn of 1818, where his habits were studious and his 
conduct exemplary. He was manly in his deportment, yet not, I 
am glad to say, without a vein of roguishness. The boy without 
this element seldom shows much manliness in later life. At An- 
dover, he had for his classmate, and part of the time for a room- 
mate, Milton P. Braman, now so well known among us as an 
able divine and brilliant writer. He was the son of Rev. Isaac 
Braman of New Rowley, now Georgetown. ‘The fathers of these 
boys had lived in the closest intimacy, and their mutual regard 
was easily and naturally transmitted to their sons. Unlike in 
temperament and tastes, they soon became strongly attached to 
each other, and the friendship then begun was never broken. The 


following remarks in relation to his former schoolmate are taken 


GL Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 








from a recent letter of the Rev. Dr. Braman, and will interest 
and possibly surprise some of those who knew our friend well. 
‘¢*When a youth, he had a most exuberant love of fun. His sense 
of the comic and Iudicrous was very keen; and he was accus- 
tomed to divert himself, greatly, with the eccentricities, curious 
peculiarities, petty foibles and amusing habits of those within his 
observation, whose demeanor in those particularities was strongly 
marked. His humor was much expended when a youth in laugh- 
able practical jokes, which, as his age became riper, he put away 
with other childish things. As this propensity became chastened 
by age, you know how much it contributed to the agreeableness 
of his society.” 

Many, whom I address, have undoubtedly heard him, half-seri- 
ously and half-jokingly, claim to be a soldier of the war of 1812. 
It is well known that the people of Boston and its vicinity were 
alarmed, while the British men-of-war were upon our coast, lest 
the territory should be invaded. ‘The boys of Phillips’ Academy, 
young Huntington among the number, desired to do what they 
might in their country’s cause, and, in a body, walked to Charles- 
town, labored with their spades for a whole day upon the redoubts, 
and walked back again to Andover and to their studies, not only 
with a consciousness of duty performed, but proud and happy 
that they had elicited words of compliment and commendation 
from that great man, Josiah Quincy, who was then one of the 
trustees of Phillips’ Academy, and who had gone to Charlestown 
not only to see, but to praise them. 

In consequence of his limited means, he was received at the 
academy as a beneficiary, but the bread then cast upon the waters 
after many days returned. 


Within a few years past, the academy building was destroyed 








Memorial Address. 65 





by fire, and a meeting of the Alumni was called to provide means 
for rebuilding it. Our friend, if he did not originate the call, 
was among the first to respond to it, and was selected to pre- 
side over the deliberations. By his own liberal subscription, and 
by his zealous and effective aid, in procuring contributions from 
others, he more than repaid in money what he had received, thus 
evincing a grateful and affectionate attachment to his early bene- 
factor more valuable even than his gift. 

He entered Yale College in 1815, and was graduated in course 
in 1819. I have again to acknowledge my indebtedness to the 
kinsman before referred to, who has not only favored me with his 
own reminiscences, but has obtained from Mr. Jonathan Edwards, 
a classmate of his cousin, now living in New Haven, this testi- 
mony : — | 

‘¢ As he was in a different division of the class, and roomed at 
a distance from me” (in the early part of his college life he did 
not occupy a room in the college buildings) “I saw but little of 
him in his early college career. I knew, however, that he was 
exemplary in his deportment, accurate in scholarship, regular in 
attendance on college duties and more mature in character than 
most around him. I never knew him engaged in any of the dis- 
sipation or light amusement, which engrossed so much of the 
time of many others. He was kind, courteous and conciliating 
in his intercourse with others; made many friends, but no ene- 
mies, and preserved through his college life the character of a 
gentleman. As I recollect him, he possessed then the genial 
manners, which he retained through life. * * * He was 
among the first scholars of his class having an oration assigned 
him at Commencement.” | 


There is abundant evidence that during his course his rank 


66 Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


in all respects was high, and that it was continually improving. 
In his senior year, he won the Berkleyan prize for excellence in 
classic literature, but was, however, deprived of the benefit of it, 
which is conditioned upon a residence in New Haven. Such resi- 
dence Mr. Huntington contemplated, and actually made the city 
his home for a few months after graduation; not long enough, 
however, to entitle him to receive any portion of the Berkleyan 
bounty. 

Having fixed upon the profession of the law as best adapted 
to his habits of thought, his disposition and his tastes, and being 
still in straitened circumstances, he selected Newburyport as a 
place, where, situated as he was, he could most successfully and 
least expensively pursue his studies. It was the place of resi- 
dence of the late Hon. Asa W. Wildes, a gentlemen from Tops- 
field, a pupil of his father, then a young practitioner of the law, 
who invited Mr. Huntington into his family, where he found a 
pleasant home. Mr. Wildes was a gentleman of great amiability 
of character, a warm friend and a genial companion; and when, 
in the later years of his life, misfortunes and reverses overtook 
him, they, who knew these early associations, understood the 
fidelity and the affection, with which Mr. Huntington adhered 
to his friend and former benefactor. He never ceased, how- 
ever changed the circumstances, to remember a kindness, and 
while he repaid such debts in kind even usuriously, he never 
withheld that better than payment in kind—his grateful remem- 
-brance of it. He entered the office of John Scott, Esq., then 
also a young lawyer of Newburyport. Mr. Scott died while 
Mr. Huntington was still a student in his office, leaving a widow 
and several small children, and as is the case with most young 


attorneys, he was poor. The widow and several of the children 





Memorial Address. OF 


died before Mr. Huntington; but his quiet, unobtrusive, and al- 
most unobserved devotion to that widow and those fatherless 
children, during her life and as long as he lived, was more like 
romance than like real life. There were no relations between 
them or between their families, either of consanguinity or associa- 
tion —there was nothing in the social position — nothing to call 
forth the sympathy and assistance, which extended through a pe- 
riod of time equal to an estimated generation — except widowed 
and orphan dependence. To this call the heart, the purse, the 
sympathy of our friend always responded. 

At the time he was in the office of Mr. Scott, there was, in 
Newburyport, an unusual proportion of intelligent and cultivated 
young men, many of them originating and residing there, or 
in the immediate vicinity, and no inconsiderable number from 
abroad, pursuing their studies preparatory to entering upon their 
respective professions. Probably there was no more brilliant coterie 
of young gentlemen in the Commonwealth; certainly none in 
any single municipality so unpretentious as Newburyport. Very 
many of them, as you are probably all aware, were made famous 
by the genius of that gifted poctess, Miss Gould, in those choice 
morceaux in the form of epitaphs, so pleasantly and humorously 
descriptive of their more prominent peculiarities. Of all those 
thus early dedicated to fame by her graphic pen, the honorable 
Caleb Cushing of Newburyport, and Bailey Bartlett, Esq. of Law- 
rence, alone survive. Taken in connection with what Dr. Braman 
says of Mr. Huntington’s fondness for deriving amusement from 
the eccentricities, curious peculiarities and petty foibles of others, 
I am prepared to believe what I am told by an eminent literary 
man, a native of Newburyport, that the materials for all these ep- 


itaphs were furnished by Mr. Huntington, and that they were 


68 Memorial of Lon. Asahel Huntington. 





prepared at his suggestion and under his personal supervision ; 
while that upon himself, which was one of the earliest, if not the 
very first in point of time, was merely a ruse to divert attention 
from any suspicion of his participation. It is not, however, upon 
these effusions that the fame and the literary position of their 
author is based. The gentleman to whom I ‘have referred, him- 
self a poet of much distinction, the Hon. George Lunt, in a 
recent communication to me thus refers to the intimacy which 
existed and continued between these two persons :—‘‘During Mr. 
Huntington’s student life at Newburyport, he was on terms of 
intimacy with a lady of large literary celebrity in her day, and in 
a day when few ladies made literary pretensions, the late Miss 
Hannah Flagg Gould. Though considerably younger than Miss 
Gould, the intimacy then formed was cordial and sincere, and 
remained unbroken until the decease of the once famous poetess, 
a few years ago. Doubtless, the fact that she also was of Tops- 
field origin led to the acquaintance, for, though a professed ad- _ 
mirer of her verses, the tastes of Mr. Huntington were in the 
direction of his legal studies, rather than in the way of general 
reading, especially of poetry. At that time, Miss Gould resided 
with her father, a plain, worthy and venerable man, who had been 
a captain in the war of the revolution; and after his decease and 
that of other members of the family, she continued to occupy the 
same dwelling. ~ “! * She had many distinguished 
visitors from other parts of the country, attracted by her poetical 
reputation and one of those, who never failed to pay her his 
respects, was the late respected Judge Daniel A. White of this 
city, himself a gentleman of no mean culture, who always enter- 
tained a high opinion of her verses and was her warm personal 


friend. be = . Many of her poems enjoyed remarka- 





Memorial Address. CI 


ble popularity during her life and are still favorites. Her themes 
are almost always simple and familiar, distinguished by delicacy 
and purity of sentiment and by exemplary correctness of versifi- 
cation, and no American female has yet appeared so likely to be 
permanently remembered as she, for some of her poetical pieces. 
As an instance of her general accomplishment, at a time when 
such an acquisition was much more rare than at present, upon 
the occasion of Lafayette’s spending a night at Newburyport in 
1824, she was introduced to him by the town authorities as the 
one lady able to converse with him in his native tongue. It 
speaks well for the soundness of Mr. Huntington’s moral sense, 
that he found pleasure in the familiar society of such a woman 
and that the friendship continued while she lived.” 

The young gentlemen to whom I have referred as the associates 
of Mr. Huntington, at Newburyport, had established a Debating 
Society or Club, of which he became an active and earnest mem- 
ber. Indeed, at that, as well as at every other time of his life, for 
him to be engaged in any enterprise was to be active and earnest 
in it. He frequently, perhaps generally, participated in the dis- 
cussions, and his mode of debate was marked by the same pecul- 
iarities, which afterwards became so well known to the bar and to 
the public. He loved discussion, and the more earnest and ex- 
cited it was, the more pleasurable was it to him. And he car- 
ried his discussions beyond the limits of the debating club. New- 
buryport was then a town, and her public affairs were discussed 
in that most perfect of all democracies, and that strongest of all 
citadels of civil liberty——town meeting.. Mr. Huntington being 
‘cof age” and resident at Newburyport, did not fail to attend the 
town meeting. At such a meeting, some of the influential citizens 
proposed a measure, which they were strongly bent on carrying 


ZO Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


and which they had no doubt of being able to carry. After they 
had spoken in its advocacy, and had been heard with apparent 
favor, young Huntington rose, in accordance with a previous de- 
sign, opposed the measure at some length and defeated it. His 
opposition was most unexpected and filled the advocates with 
surprise, disappointment and mortification. 

On leaving Newburyport, he came to Salem and entered the 
law office of the Hon. David Cummins, of whom I have be- 
fore spoken as a pupil of the Rev. Mr. Huntington of Tops- 
field. It would be pleasant to linger a moment upon the memory 
of that beloved man, still green in the hearts of the older por- 
tion of our community; especially upon those endearing traits 
of character and temperament, which, while they rendered his 
success aS a magistrate less conspicuous, only bound him more 
closely by the ties of respect and love. With an ardor and a 
vehemence of action in the trial of causes never equalled at the 
Essex bar, his great powers were never excited except upon the 
side of charity, virtue and truth; but I must content myself by 
saying, that the pupil of the father was the eminently fit instructor 
of the son. Not far from this time, Mr. Huntington taught the 
district school in North Beverly, and I refer to the fact, especially, 
because he so endeared himself to the boys and girls of his 
school, that they ever after, even to the time of his death, seemed 
to regard him as theirs; and the counsels which he commenced 
with them as boys and girls, he continued to give them as men 
and women, whether they were required in matters of law, of 
morals, of conduct or even of domestic and family trial and con- 
cern. The friend of their youth remained the counsellor of their 
lives, unpaid, except by that filial gratitude and love, which 
prompted many tears at his death. 








>A, 


Memorial Address. v7 





While here engaged in the study of the law, he became much 
interested in a system of mnemonics, or artificial memory. I 
have not been able to learn whether the system originated with 
him or whether he adopted it from some other source, nor have 
I been able to ascertain precisely what it was. He prepared a 
lecture upon the subject, with a series of illustrative diagrams, 
and delivered it in several places in the Commonwealth, in Rhode 
Island and Connecticut. I have heard his warm personal friend, 
the estimable man and upright magistrate, Chief Justice Mellen, 
late of the court of Common Pleas, say that he remembered with 
interest its delivery at Providence, while he was an undergraduate 
of Brown University. The only account I can find of it is from 
that cousin to whom I am so greatly indebted. He says: ‘‘The 
floor and ceiling and four sides of a room, were supposed to have 
each nine compartments with some familiar object in each. The 
student made himself familiar with these, and then associated 
with them, in their order, the things to be remembered.” But 
whatever the principle, or whatever the detail, no doubt Mr. Hunt- 
ington soon came to the practical result, to which others before 
and since have arrived, that each man must cultivate, in his own 
mode and by his own reflection, such aids to the memory, as he 
finds adapted to himself. 

At the March Term of the Court of Common Pleas, 1824, he 
was admitted as an attorney of that court; two years later, ac- 
cording to the law then existing, he was admitted an attorney 
of the Supreme Judicial Court, and after two years’ practice as 
attorney, was admitted as counsellor in the Supreme Judicial 
Court, the highest grade of the profession. 

It is not easy to define with entire accuracy his position as a 


lawyer. It is easy to say that he took a prominent place at the 


fe Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 





bar, which he maintained with honor so long as he remained in 
practice. It is easy to say, that he had the confidence of his 
clients and of the public and the respect of his associates ; but 
to point out wherein he differed, who differed largely from his 
compeers, is not easy. Lord Bacon says:—‘‘Studies serve for 
delight, for ornament and for ability. Their chief use for delight 
is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and 
for ability is in the judgment and disposition of business. * * 
To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too 
much for ornament is affectation; to make judgment wholly by 
their rules is the humor of a scholar.” More, formerly, than now 
in the early education of youth was there the just admixture of 
delight, ornament and ability. The mind was so cultivated that 
it found delight in literary pursuits, and discourse was made at- 
tractive and ability to treat affairs promoted. When Mr. Hunt- 
ington entered upon life, the necessities of his position gave pre- 
. dominance to the last of these qualities of study, the ability to 
deal with affairs. His life became eminently a practical one, and 
though he never absolutely renounced the humanities, he gave 
but inconsiderable and. unimportant attention to them. The nat- 
ural and indeed necessary result of this was accomplishment and 
not display in his professional career. With no design to become 
a writer or expositor of the law, his studies did not range 
through ‘the entire field of jurisprudence; but determined to per- 
form well the duties of his profession, he limited his labors. to 
the exigencies of immediate duty. In this he was constant and 
steadfast. This course of study made him what he was. If 
there was one mental trait, more strikingly manifest than any 
other to the minds of all who were brought into contact with him, 
it would probably be characterized by the majority as strong, 





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Memorial Address. ey 








sterling, common sense. This, however, would very imperfectly 
describe it; for we understand by a vigorous common sense the 
mere natural working of a sound mind; a sort of intuition which 
results from original mental organization. It is not that, that I 
mean. What we thus characterize, when we apply it to Mr. 
Huntington, is the result of severe training and discipline. It is 
more properly wisdom applied to conduct. The secret springs of 
action in one mind are not intuitively known to another. To 
discover them and to turn them to useful account demands more 
profound thought and more incessant study than to master the 
details of history or science. The mysteries of mind are more 
subtle than those of physics and much more readily elude pur- 
suit and investigation; and he that becomes master of the human 
mind and human passions has achieved a greater triumph than he 
who has discovered a pianet. ‘‘He understands human nature,” 
can properly be said only of him who has been a long, severe 
and profound student; although when such power is attained, like 
the most marvellous discoveries in science or art, it seems so sim- 
ple that we are inclined to deem it intuitive. What we call 
eravitation, and what we call force, will explain nearly every 
phenomenon of the physical world; but it was the subtle and 
more mysterious workings of the mind, the more difficult and 
multifarious rules of human conduct that claimed the study of 
Mr. Huntington; and although we may call the result by the 
humble and unpretentious name of common sense, it is indeed 
one of the highest achievements of study. The great poet of 
nature wrote songs and sonnets, which would have given high 
place to another; but how insignificant they are in comparison 
with his magnificent exhibitions of human action! 

The position of Mr. Huntington, as prosecuting officer, while 


still a young man, having been appointed to that place first in 


V4 Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


1830, required the study of the mind in other than what may be 
called its normal condition. He was called to deal with men 
who violated law and duty; with those who transgressed in the 
slightest degree the rules of municipal law, and those who com- 
mitted the highest and most revolting crimes; and the conduct 
of men under such circumstances he was called to investigate 
and to study; and though it opened a peculiar and ample field, 
he entered upon it and reaped an abundant harvest. To this was 
added an accurate and critical knowledge of the criminal law, a 
reasonable proficiency in the principles of the common law, a fa- 
miliarity with general jurisprudence and an average degree of 
culture in literature and science. He thus became in the practice 
of his profession a strong man. 

The character, however, would be incomplete without the addi- 
tion of the high moral qualities, which distinguished him through 
his whole career, and an incorruptible integrity, which crowned 
and illustrated every other quality. While he held the office, 
first of County and afterwards of District Attorney, there were 
no separate terms of the Court for the transaction of criminal 
business ; he was, therefore, although retained in a large proportion 
of civil controversies, to a considerable extent, prevented from 
attending in Court to that branch of professional business. He 
was twice elected to the House of Representatives of this Com- 
monwealth, but was never a member of any other legislative body. 

He remained unmarried until the year 1842. In August of 
that year, he was married, in Boston, to Mrs. Caroline Louisa 
Tucker, widow of Mr. Charles Tucker of that city. Mrs. Tucker 
had then one surviving child, Richard D., a lad of some nine 
or ten years of age, now a partner in the long established and 
well known house of Peele, Hubbell & Co., at Manila. Though 
her idiosyncrasies were different from his, and though their early 





ee 


Memorial Address. V5 


associations and educational influences had been respectively so 
unlike yet the constant and constantly increasing mutual confi- , 
dence, respect and love, which made his married life one of 
comfort and happiness through many years—and to its close— 
fully attested the fitness of the union. His house was an abode 
of generous hospitality and of rare domestic happiness. 

By this marriage there were born to them three children, 
William Deblois, Louisa Sarah,.and Arthur Lord, of whom only 
the two younger survived him. 

As prosecuting officer for the District comprising the large 
counties of Middlesex and Essex, the duties of Mr. Huntington 
were numerous and necessarily arduous. The year 1843 was one 
of much more than the usual responsibility and labor; and there 
occurred, during it, an important and memorable trial in which 
he was compelled to meet an array of ability, learning and legal 
skill, quite unexampled in the history of the Commonwealth. 
He met the demands of the occasion. The law was vindicated, 
and in the judgment, as well of the public as of the profession, 
in such manner as to reflect high credit upon him. 

Strong as was his physical constitution, the labors of that year 
were too exhausting, and late in the fall he was prostrated with 
a tedious and dangerous illness, which, for many months, con- 
fined him to his house and prevented him from attending to any 
professional business till the next midsummer. 

It was at this time, in Jan., 1844, while his body was suffering 
with a fearful disease, that there was superadded a calamity much 
more terrible to him. 

No might nor greatness in mortality 


Can censure ’scape; backwounding calumny 
The whitest virtue strikes. 


76 Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


His integrity was called in question, and charges were publicly 
. made, that he was corrupt in office and had embezzled public 
funds. Nerves, strong as his, might well yield under the ac- 
cumulated pressure of sickness and calumny. The charges, in- 
deed, came from polluted sources; from those who, nnder the 
law and by force of the law, had been doomed to the pecuniary 
penalties, which he was charged with embezzling. They came, 
however, with dates and sums and with circumstance, so that the 
poison gangrened the minds of some honest and worthy men, and 
a call was made for Legislative investigation. On the 19th day 
of Jan., 1844, Mr. Washburn, of Lynn, introduced an order into 
the House of Representatives, which, after amendment, was adopt- 
ed, directing the committee on the Judiciary ‘‘to inquire into any 
charge which may be preferred against Asahel Huntington, Dis- 
trict Attorney of the Commonwealth, for malefeasance in the dis- 
charge of the duties of his office” and the committee were em- — 
powered to send for persons and papers. At the time, that most 
excellent and pure minded man, the late Honorable Leverett 
Saltonstall, our respected townsman, was at the head of the 
committee on the Judiciary. He knew Mr. Huntington well; and 
there is sufficient evidence that he was disinclined to enter upon 
such an investigation, at a time when his friend was unable even 
to converse on any subject of business, and that he was dis- 
posed to let a life of integrity and uprightness be its own vin- 
dicator. But Mr. Huntington, enfeebled and almost overwhelmed 
as he was, demanded an investigation, and on the 12th day of 
March, 1844, Mr. Saltonstall, in behalf of the committee, made 
a report recommending that ‘‘in conformity with the desire of 
the respondent a committee be appointed, to meet during the 
recess of the Legislature, to examine the charges which have 











Memorial Address. (ope 





been preferred against the said Asahel Huntington and to make 
their report at the next session of the Legislature. And fur- 
ther, that said committee have authority to send for persons and 
papers.” This report was accepted. The committee appointed 
were the late Hon. Joseph Bell, an eminent lawyer of Boston, 
‘the Hon. George S. Boutwell, the present Secretary of the Treas- 
ury of the United States, at that time a young, active and ex- 
treme partisan of the extreme democracy, and the late Hon. 
J. H. W. Page, a young and promising lawyer of New Bedford. 
The committee it will be perceived, had none of the qualities 
of a whitewashing committee. Nothing but integrity could pass 
that ordeal. This committee met in Salem on the 9th day of 
July, 1844, having previously given notice to Mr. Washburn who 
introduced the order, and to Mr. Huntington of the time and 
place of their meeting. On that day, the committee say ‘‘ Mr. 
Huntington appeared and was ready to proceed. But no per- 
son appeared to sustain the charges.” I have said the charges 
were made with the circumstance of dates, and sums, and per- 
sons, who had paid the money, which he was charged with em- 
bezzling; and neither the committee nor Mr. Huntington was 
willing to accept the absence of an accuser as sufficient vindication 
of the accused. Under the power to send for persons and papers 
they directed that Mr. Washburn and every person named in 
the accusation should be summoned, and that every document re- 
ferred to should be brought before them for examination. ‘Though 
Mr. Huntington was able to be present, he had not recovered his 
health. The elastic step and the buoyant spirit were not with 
him. Severe and protracted illness and its sympathetic influence 
upon a strong mind still debilitated and depressed him. But his 
life of honor and integrity had not been in vain. He had 


7S Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


friends that loved him, and they were friends that knew him. 
They knew also his accusers, and though these had paraded 
what they called facts and figures of condemnation, so as al- 
most to forestall the public judgment, his friends did not 
falter or hesitate. They voluntarily and unsolicited, tendered to 
him their professional services before the committee, and en- 
tered upon the investigation with a zeal and confidence which 
no deceptive array of figures could diminish, and which fraud 
and falsehood could not shake. Foremost among them was the 
late Hon. Rufus Choate, the friend of his early manhood and of 
his whole life; who, in probably the last letter he ever indited, 
said affectionately ‘‘I am quite competent to pronounce for my- 
self that I love and esteem you and * * * and brother Hunting- 
ton quite as much as ever and for quite as much reason. Pray 
accept for yourself, and give them all my love, and be sure if 
I live to return, it will be with unabated affection for you all.” 
To the cause of his friend he brought his love as well as his 
genius. Three others of the most conspicuous of these, whom 
Mr. Huntington followed sorrowfully to their graves, he would 
require me to name; Mr. Stickney of Lynn, an honorable law- 
yer of a different political party from Mr. Huntington; Mr. N. 
J. Lord of Salem, also of different politics, and Mr. J. H. 
Ward of Salem. The latter two were his more immediate and 
active advisers, the last of whom especially engaged in the cause 
with characteristic enthusiasm, and did not cease from his labors 
until the honor and integrity of his friend were clearly and com- 
pletely vindicated. But while these, from their position, were 
naturally the more prominent among his vindicators, others of 
the bar, some of whom are now among the dead while others live 


to mourn his loss, felt no less assurance of the final result and 











Memorial Address. ome pS 








were in no degree less ready, should opportunity occur, to lend 
their aid to a successful issue. | | 

Early in the next session in Jan. 1845, the committee made 
their report to the House of Representatives. I give its closing 
paragraph. ‘On the contrary, the evidence was entirely satis- 
factory to the committee, that Mr. Huntington had devoted him- 
self with extraordinary zeal and untiring industry—even to the 
peril of his life, to the discharge of his official duties; and that 
he had thereby acquired, and has a just right to retain the wide 
spread and well founded confidence of his fellow citizens in the 
intelligence, integrity, fidelity and ability with which these duties 
have been discharged. The committee are, therefore, unanimously 
of opinion, that the charges of malpractice in office brought 
against Asahel Huntington, Esq., District Attorney of the Com- 
monwealth for the Northern District, at the last session of the 
Legislature are wholly unsustained by the evidence referred to for 
their support, and that no further action be had thereon by this 
House.” And on the 7th day of Jan. 1845, the record says this 
‘¢ report was read, unanimously accepted and ordered to be printed.” 
Thus, effectually and forever was wiped away the only stain ever 
sought to be fixed upon his character. So thorough and complete 
was their vindication, that not even a suspicion rested upon any 
mind. Few, probably, of those who have since come upon the 
stage have ever heard of the attempt to defame him, while those 
who remember it, remember it only as a miserable failure. It 
would not now have been referred to, but that entire justice to 
his character required it, and because it illustrates, in a striking 
manner, the value of honesty, uprightness and integrity in char- 
acter. 

A few months later he returned to his accustomed work with 


SO Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 








strength and spirits fully restored, and from that time to his 
death, which occurred a year ago this day, casting a gloom over 
our city and sending sorrow to many hearts, his uniformly robust 
health. and ever cheerful temper were facts of universal obser- 
vation and remark. 

Thus, wholly exonerated, in 1845, he resigned the office of Dis- 
trict Attorney which he had held from 1832, and resumed with 
much success the general practice of the law. 

In 1847, Essex county was again constituted a distinct district, 
and yielding to the general public wish, he assumed again the 
duties of public prosecutor which he discharged for four years 
longer. In 1851, he was appointed by the Supreme Judicial 
Court, Clerk of the Courts for the County of Essex. Subse- 
quently, by a change in the constitution of the Commonwealth, 
the office was made elective, and by successive elections, each for 
the term of five years, he continued to hold the office during the 
remainder of his life. The duties of the office, though he was 
not clerical in his tastes or habits, were acceptably performed. 
Lord Bacon, speaking of clerks, who are first and last and only 
clerks, and who grow old in the service, says ‘‘an ancient ‘clerk, 
skilful in precedents, wary in proceeding and understanding in the 
business of the Court, is an excellent finger of the court and 
doth many times point the way to the Judge himself.” In a dif- 
ferent and far higher sense, Mr. Huntington was a finger which 
many times pointed the way for the Judge himself; and it has 
often occurred to me, as I do not doubt it has to others hold- 
ing a similar position, that the relative position of Judge and 
clerk might have been changed to the advantage of the public 
and for the better administration of the law. 


In 1853, he was a member of the convention called to revise 


Memorial Address. 87 


the constitution of Massachusetts. In 1854, he was Mayor of 
the city, and this was the last political duty to which he was 
elected by his fellow citizens. 

‘But these were not all the trusts which were committed to 
him. In 1844, he was chosen a Trustee of Dummer Academy, 
an institution endeared to him by the fact that his esteemed 
cousin, whom I have so often referred to, was for many years 
its accomplished head. The duties of this office he performed 
assiduously and efficiently so long as he lived. He was an 
officer, at various times, in several of our charitable institutions, 
a service most congenial to his nature; was Director and Pres- 
ident of the Naumkeag Cotton Company; he was President, also, 
of this Institute which will never fail to honor his memory. 

In all places to which he was thus called, he gave the benefit 
of his wisdom, his prudence and his efficient labors. 

But, though his life was cheerful and happy in the highest 
degree, it was not all unshadowed. I remember, and memory 
will be dethroned when I forget that three years ago, our friend 
and I were engaged, each in our respective official duties at 
Newburyport, and returned together on the evening of Monday, 
May 11, with the expectation of resuming our places on the 
following morning. There was the same buoyancy of spirits, the 
same warm words from the heart, the same flow of genial and 
sympathetic kindness, that were his uniform characteristics and 
which made his society so charming. As I sat at breakfast the 
next morning, a note, in his familiar handwriting, was brought to 
me, the opening words of which were, ‘‘God has taken my first 
born.” My own emotion, in some faint degree, indicated the 
severity of the calamity which well nigh overwhelmed him. I 


have since learned that when he parted with me on that pre- 


S2 Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


vious evening, instead of ‘going directly to his home, he made 
one of his frequent and ever welcome calls upon his beloved 
pastor; and there, in an unusual and pathetic manner, poured 
out his heart, his hopes, his anxieties, his confidence in relation 
to his first born son; lingering beyond his custom, and seem- 
ingly reluctant to leave the theme. His whole existence seemed 
garnered in the life of that young man. He went to his home 
to find the seal unbroken of a letter, which announced that this 
child of his love, of his hopes, of his heart, had, several months 
before, in a distant land, gone peacefully to his final rest. 

He was a young gentleman of extraordinary promise, possess- 
ing an exceedingly amiable disposition, and had developed a more 
than usual capacity for business. He had not only endeared 
himself to a large circle of friends and associates here, but had 
secured the warm affection of many, with whom he came in 
contact in his far distant home. In contemplation of a son, so 
suddenly cut down in the full vigor and: bright promise of 
opening manhood, well might the strong heart of the father 
quail, and the firm step, for a time, falter. The unwonted grief, 
which, at first, greatly saddened and subdued him, soon settled 
into a calm and submissive sorrow, that threw its attempering 
and hallowed influence over the rest of his life. His silent, 
tender farewell to this child of his affections might be well ex- 
pressed in the words of the beautiful apostrophe. 

‘“Go, gentle spirit, to thy destined rest, 
While I, reversed our nature’s kindlier doom, 
Pour forth a father’s sorrow on thy tomb.” 

In the early manhood of Mr. Huntington, at just about the 

time he was appointed a public prosecutor, began what has been 


known as the temperance reformation. This commenced by a 





Memorial Address. SF 





pledge to abstain from the use of distilled liquors and was 
afterwards extended to abstinence from all intoxicating drink. 
To this cause, he was, from first to last, the consistent, unwaver- 
ing and judicious friend. To it, he devoted the strength of his 
youth, the energy of his manhood, and the counsels of his ma- 
ture age. If he had a specialty in life, it was devotion to 
temperance. If he had an ambition for distinction among his 
contemporaries, it was as the uncompromising friend of temper- 
ance. If there was one field above all others in which he de- 
lighted to labor, it was that which the cause of temperance 
opened to him. In 1861, when he was requested by his class- 
mate, Edwards, to give some of the incidents of his life for 
the purpose of a class memorial, he said in a postscript to his 
letter of reply, ‘‘If I have had any special mission, or rendered 
any special service in my day and generation, it is as a temper- 
ance reformer, and in that I flatter myself I have made my mark. 
My labors have been felt in the general cause in this Common- 
wealth and in its legislation. Under the lead of one of your 
name and blood, the late Dr. Justin Edwards of Andover, the 
great temperance reformer of the United States, who should 
always be placed at its head, I enlisted in this work of benevo- 
lence and goodwill more than three and thirty years ago, and 
have been in it from that day to this, in season and out of 
season, by pen, speech and example. And if, in all these years, 
I have not done something, I must have been a very poor 
worker. I have lived to witness an entire revolution in the 
public sentiment of the State and people, and to see our princi- 
ples established in the high places of power and influence. Our 
principles and creed have become energetic among the vital forces 


of society and are installed in the legislation of the State. In 


SL Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


all this great work I have had some share, and as far as public 
service is concerned, I consider it the great felicity of my life.” 
During his various terms of service as prosecuting attorney, he 
labored with great zeal in the prosecution of parties charged 
with the violation of laws respecting the sale of intoxicating 
liquors. In the performance of this duty, I do not think he 
was fully understood. The fact that he was an ardent and zeal- 
ous advocate of temperance was put in conjunction with the fact 
that he was a no less ardent and zealous prosecutor of persons 
charged with illegally selling intoxicating liquors, and they were 
deemed cause and effect. This, it seems to me, is a superficial 
view of his conduct. His zeal in both cases sprang from a 
deeper source. There was, underlying his whole character, the 
profoundest conviction that the morality, good order and advance- 
ment of society, depended upon the prevalence of temperance; 
there was also the no less profound conviction that society itself 
and the government, upon which it is based, will be subverted 
if law may be violated with impunity. His energy in the prose- 
cution of such offences arose not so much from the fact, that 
such persons illegally sold liquors, as from the fact, that those, 
thus charged, constituted a large and influential class of open and 
arrogant violators of law; and this energy was intensified when 
he saw these persons, so open and arrogant in society, becom- 
ing mean and cowardly before the judicial tribunals, and resort- 
ing to every sort of sham and disguise when called to answer 
for their conduct. No wonder that he took delight in rending 
those disguises, in exposing those shams and in vindicating the 
law. It would, however, be unjust to him and to his memory, to 
give such prominence to his energy in securing the conviction of 


such offenders as to warrant the inference that he was less ener- 


Memorial Address. SSO 





getic in the prosecution of other offences. There sometimes may 
have appeared to be more zeal in this class of prosecutions, but 
it arose not from the prosecution, but from the nature of the de- 
fences. These prosecutions were quite tame and unexciting, when, 
as in other cases, the issue was simply ‘‘Guilty” or ‘Not 
Guilty.” It was only when some device, ingenious or absurd, 
was resorted to, that his zeal was kindled or his energy aroused. 
His true fame and excellence as a public prosecutor, had a 
wholly different foundation. Acting upon that other conviction 
to which I have referred, that the whole fabric of society rested 
upon the supremacy of the law, his great ability and all his 
powers were brought into action to this end. He kept constantly 
in mind the two great objects of the criminal law—the protec- 
tion of society and the reformation of the offender. He accepted 
as the true definition of these objects, that which was given in 
the most remarkable trial in the annals of this county, by the 
great constitutional lawyer who conducted that prosecution, ‘‘ The 
law is made, if we would speak with entire accuracy, to protect 
the innocent by punishing the guilty.” The vindication of the 
law was the only object of his effort, the only joy in his triumph. 
The result of this course of administration has already been 
anticipated in the report of that Legislative Committee, from 
which I have. quoted—the wide spread and well founded confi- 
dence of his fellow citizens in the intelligence, integrity, fidelity 
and ability with which those duties were discharged. 

In estimating the character of Mr. Huntington, his religious 
views cannot otherwise than contribute an important element. 
Although it is impossible that a mind like his could. be fettered 
by the words of any creed, his views were substantially in ac- 
cordance with those, with whom he was accustomed to worship— 


SC Uemorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 





the orthodox congregationalists. They were tolerant and catholic. 
. He was opposed as well to the bigotry of exclusiveness, as to 
the bigotry of liberalism. His religion was a religion of thought 
and action rather than speech. He never proclaimed that he was 
a lighted candle, but those who approached him saw the light, 
which could not be hid. In reference to the fundamental prin- 
ciple of Christianity, he believed that Science was silent, —that if 
it spoke at all, it was only in gloomy and despondent words; 
that Philosophy could offer nothing but a ‘pleasing hope,”—a 





‘¢fond desire,’ —a “longing after,’—and that by Revelation, and 
by revelation alone, the truth of the immortality of the soul was, 
with certainty, promulgated; and to deny an authentic and in- 
fallible revelation was, with him, to uproot all confidence that the 
condition of man differed from that of the beasts which perish. 
He was not of those who rejected what was old in belief, because 
it was old; nor was the consentaneous judgment of all minds 
for thousands of years rejected by him because it had been so 
long concurred in. 

‘There is a class quite numerous now, and perhaps tempora- 
rily increasing in number, endowed above all others with inquir- 
ing and investigating minds. They receive nothing upon trust. 
Old truths are merely old superstitions until tested by the 
touchstone of their unerring wisdom. They must put their 
finger into the print of the nails, and thrust their hand into the 
side of every truth before it can have their sanction; and when 
truth has stood this test, they are prepared to inquire whether 
the body of truth is really a substantial body or only a cer- 
tain manifestation which appears to be a body; for of such deli- 
cate composition are their minds that they can contain nothing 
as true, which is inconsistént with their view of what truth 


Memorial Address. 87 








ought to be. It would be difficult to tolerate this new school 
were it not for that general and satisfactory compensation which 
nature provides in such cases. While they will believe nothing 
which has been generally believed for ages, there is nothing, of 
recent suggestion, which they will not believe. They will hazard 
their lives upon the truth of every theory, every hypothesis, and 
even every speculation of each one of those learned professors, 
who has established, each for himself, a positive succession of 
prehistoric ages fraught with detailed events; nor does it dampen 
the ardor of their belief, that of the theories of a hundred of 
these learned men, each man’s individual theory is rejected as 
absurd by the other ninety-nine. They go for progress. To 
believe what has been believed a thousand years, is not prog- 
_ress. 

It is mere incredulity and a bigoted adherence to old notions, 
which refuses to believe that man by natural or sexual selection 
or in some other equally philosophical mode has been evolved 
from some ape-like progenitor, or anthropomorphous monkey, and 
that in “Curiosity” ‘‘ Imitation” ‘‘ Attention” ‘‘ Memory” ‘ Im- 
agination” and ‘ Reason” the difference between man and any 
other animal is only in degree — not in kind. With this class of 
advancing men, Mr. Huntington had no sympathy. What had 
commended itself to the common belief for a long time was more 
likely, in his opinion, to be true, than what had never been re- 
ceived. He was well aware that these old truths had undergone 
investigation and scrutiny many times; that they had been op- 
posed and denied; crushed even to the earth, only to rise again 
with renewed and increased power; that many of the new dis- 
coveries had been time and again discovered, and time and again 
exploded; that under different names and in different types the 


SS Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 





new theories and new philosophies had been, over and over again, 
originated and discarded; and it was such and such only of what 
modern theorists and speculators call old superstitions, as, after 
study and investigation, commend themselves to belief, that com- 
manded his sanction. 

It would be doing him great injustice, should I omit to say 
that the authenticity and divine origin of the sacred scriptures 
was the one foundation, on which he planted himself. His in- 
terpretation of them—the particular theological truths which he 
derived from them, I shall not in this place attempt to state: 
but belief in their essentially divine character was a part of his 
being, and beautified and illustrated his life. 

There was another trait of Mr. Huntington’s character so con- 
spicuous and so constant, that no one would recognize the por- 
traiture which did not present it. It may, perhaps, be designated 
by the word benevolence, if understood in that enlarged sig- 
nification of assisting others in every commendable enterprise. 
Whether the call came from country, from state, from city, from 
parish, from institution or from individual, there was the same 
ready response. Whether made upon his mind, his hand or his 
purse, the answer was never uncertain. An unrecompensed jour- 
ney of a thousand miles for a poor widow was given with the 
same cheerfulness as his deposit in the charity box. His views 
were enlarged and liberal. He was conscious that 

There is some soul of goodness in things evil 

Would men observingly distil it out. 
He did not confine his good offices to kindred or to sect, to 
those about him or personally known to him. I have known men 
liberal and generous; men who gave largely, impulsively and 


even passionately; but I have never known a man, who so uni- 





Memorial Address. SI 





formly and so cheerfully contributed according to his means to 
every worthy object; and his fondness for accumulation, though 
great, undoubtedly, was thus graced and dignified by his extraor- 
dinary dedication of its results to charity and benevolence. His 
giving was not: ostentatious nor lavish, but discriminate and pru- 
dent. His public contributions are known —his private aid, by 
counsel, by loan, by gift will never be fully revealed. 

The inquiry is natural, whether there are any peculiar cir- 
cumstances or causes, that evidently contributed to form the char- 
acter and to shape the life, which I have so imperfectly depicted. 
There is, in every person, an individuality of some sort. This 
is not the occasion to inquire whether such individuality is in- 
herent, or whether it is the result of education. In relation to 
Mr. Huntington there were, at. least, two facts which had a 
marked influence on his character, and which modified to some 
extent his whole life. His father was a clergyman —his mother 
a widow from his early boyhood. 

The memory — the consciousness of these facts, were, with 
him, an ever-present, all-pervading influence, manifest in many of 
his tastes and habits, and to which thousands of his kindly 
charities may be traced. To the fact just mentioned may be 
ascribed in large measure, I think, the peculiar interest he al- 
ways felt in members of the clerical profession and in all mat- 
ters and occasions of an ecclesiastical nature. Occasionally, he 
presided, by special invitation, over assemblies which might al- 
most be called ministerial, and uniformly discharged the duty 
with great felicity. 

‘And she was a widow.” In this was a cause still more 
potent. There is, probably, no appeal to the better nature of a 
boy so strong, as that which is made by having a mother wid- 


90 Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 





owed and destitute. His filial love and duty, thus specially ex- 
cited, became an unfailing stimulus to exertion and kept him 
firmly in the right path. Who has not observed that the sons 
of poor widows very often, nay, more frequently than those in 
any other special condition of life— become eminent for their 
virtues and success. Mr. Huntington’s devotion to the beloved 
and venerated parent, who survived his father nearly forty years 
was conspicuously exemplary. Several years after her death, at 
the age of eighty-five, he thus referred to her in a letter to his 
classmate Edwards ‘‘ She has been the delight and charm of my 
life, and I cherish her memory in all honor and with the high- 
est filial love.” 

There were incidents of interest in the life of Mr. Hunting- 
ton, to which I might refer. His life, however, did not consist 
of here and there a brilliant exhibition; an occasional exploit, 
which startled or enchanted an admiring public; there was no 
extraordinary and sporadic effort now and then eclipsing the gen- 
eral tenor of his life. There was rather a daily beauty, which 
everywhere and at all times gave a charm to his life, develop- 
ing a well formed and symmetrical character— of active duty, 
kindly and faithfully done—of constant sympathy, flowing in 
continuous benevolence—and unfailing integrity, seeking to be 
right rather than to be brilliant, dealing justly and truly in all 
conditions of life. . 

To some extent, an impression has been made that there was 
a certain degree of indolence in his mental constitution. In that 
graceful tribute of his esteemed pastor, so happy in its deline- 
ation of his character—a tribute, which, while it does honor to 
its subject, reflects honor upon its author—it is said, “that he 
was constitutionally, a man of more than usual inertia.” In the 


Memorial Address. 97 


sense in which the eloquent preacher used the phrase, it is un- 
doubtedly true, for it was only when roused by some exigency 
or excited by some call of duty that ‘‘ his prodigious energy” was 
manifested. In its normal condition— in the ordinary intercourse 
of life—there was a quiet repose of mind— an indisposition to 
obtrude his own reflections upon others—an apparent inattention 
which the phrase may properly characterize. In no other sense, 
however, is it true. He was a thinking man. His mind was con- 
stantly active. Indeed, it could not be otherwise; for it was 
healthily constituted — constantly nurtured — and well sustained by 
a vigorous and healthful physical frame. He did not display the 
crude, undigested and unarranged congeries of thoughts which first 


took possession of his mind. He spoke only matured opinions. 


It was the incessant activity of his intellect— its presentation 


to itself of every question in so many phases and aspects which 
gave the idea of what is sometimes called inertia — more prop- 
erly, perhaps, abstraction — but which is, in reality, the highest 
condition of mental activity. 

The inquiry is not unnatural, why Mr. Huntington, commended 
by such excellences of character, and fitted to adorn any place, 
was not elevated to more conspicuous public position. The 
answer, however, is easy, and for him an honorable one. So far 
as judicial position is concerned, he had fixed an ideal standard 
of qualification, which it were no disparagement to him, nor to 
any man, to fail to reach. I am not without reason to suppose 
that his absence from judicial office is to be attributed rather 
to his own disposition than to that of the appointing power, 
and that he felt constrained to his determination by the con- 
scientious fear that sore is required of a judge, than the lot 


of humanity will admit. The inquiry, however, rather is, why 


92 Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


he was not elevated to more important political position. The 
present generation can scarcely appreciate the condition of the 
public mind, as it was, when he entered upon professional life. 
Suffrage was comparatively limited, and was exercised principally 
by the more intelligent and the wiser. The surest evidence of 
unfitness for any office was the desire to fill that office. Politics 
was not a trade, and there were few, if any, politicians. Officers 
were selected under the guidance of an enlightened public judg- 
ment. It is a high tribute to the early worth and future promise 
of our friend, that comparatively a stranger, and before he was 
thirty years of age, he was chosen to represent the most im- 
portant town in the county in the public counsels. Before he 
had been ten years at the bar, at a time when fitness was the 
only qualification, he was appointed by the executive to an im- 
portant position, one previously held by a gentleman of high 
standing, who was by many years his senior, and who had before 
occupied a high judicial office. With the change, of the times, 
he did not change. If that change were progress he did not 
advance with the progressive; if it were deterioration, he did not 
deteriorate. 

‘OQ, that estates, degrees and offices 

Were not derived corruptly; and that clear honor 

Were purchased by the merit of the wearer! 


How many then should cover, that stand bare, 
How many be commanded, that command.” 


In reply to a letter already referred to, in which the incidents 
of his life were asked of him, for the purpose of a College 
class memoir, he said, *‘I have had the honor to hold various 
offices of trust, which have sought me. I never sought them, 


or any of them, from first to last.” There was, however, one 








Memorial Address. IS 





occasion, and I can recall but one, after he had arrived at the 
maturity of his manhood, when the public sentiment demanded 
that fitness should be the only qualification, and to this end, 
with a. single exception not to be more particularly noticed, that 
public sentiment selected those who most eminently possessed the 
requisite qualifications, and were to the fullest extent entitled to 
the public confidence. I refer to the choice of delegates to the 
Constitutional Convention of 1853—-and Mr. Huntington was of 
course, and without dissent, one of them. Although the part he 
took in that assembly was not a very conspicuous one, it was 
one of honorable and controlling influence, not so much in what 
was done, for he was in a minority, as in what was prevented. 
The ultimate judgment of the people, in rejecting every propo- 
sition of the convention, was in accordance with his counsels and 
his efforts. If the incumbency of high official position is neces- 
sary to establish a title to grateful remembrance — our friend 
did not achieve it. 

Est autem gloria, laus recte factorum, magnorumque in rem- 
publicam meritorum, quae cum optimi cujusque, tam etiam mul- 
titudinis testimonio comprobatur — and our friend achieved it. 

There is, however, another view of the character of Mr. Hun- 
tington, upon which, if the proprieties of the occasion would allow, 
it would be delightful to linger— that of the warm-hearted, gen- 
erous, constant personal friend. It was in this relation, beyond 
all others, that he commended himself most warmly, and in which 
his true worth was strikingly conspicuous. ‘Tolerant of faults, sym- 
pathetic in vicissitudes, rejoicing in success, supporting in trial, 
solacing in affliction, seeking another’s rather than his own ad- 
yancement, his ever ready and responsive heart grew warmer, 


and entwined itself more and more closely about his friends ev- 


IL Memorial of Hon. Asahel Huntington. 


ery year of his life. Washington Irving, in the preface to one of 
the later editions of the sketch book, alluding to Sir Walter Scott, 
and in gratitude for the interest which that distinguished man 
had manifested in him, before he himself had acquired his own 
worldwide celebrity, used a phrase, which seems to me better than 
any other to characterize our friend—that ‘‘golden hearted man.” 
How descriptive and how just! Those who were admitted to his 
confidence — those who sustained the relation of personal friend 
— those who have been accustomed to his cordial and sympathetic 
greeting —and not those alone—will accept it— and amid all the 
recollections, which cluster about his name and his memory, no 
word will more truly and graphically define the aggregated quali- 
ties, which endear him to us than this one phrase —THAT GOLDEN 


HEARTED MAN. 





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